Noida pays tribute to Dalit icon Kanshi Ram on death anniversary

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) workers and others gathered at the Rashtriya Dalit Prerna Sthal to observe Dalit icon Kanshi Ram’s 14th death anniversary on Friday.

HT Image

Kanshi Ram had founded the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1984.

Prerna Sthal is a memorial commissioned by then BSP government and was inaugurated in October 2011. It has statues of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar, Kanshi Ram, Mayawati and other Dalit leaders. The memorial, sprawled across 33 acre, also has 24 elephant statues, the BSP’s election symbol, each 18 feet tall.

Lakhmi Singh, BSP Gautam Budh Nagar president, said that the traffic police personnel were deployed at the spot to manage traffic flow. “The BSP workers and others came to the Prerna Sthal to pay homage to Kanshi Ram. He had worked for upliftment of Dalit and poor in the country. The UP government has failed to check crime in the state. We hope the BSP will return to power and Mayawati will lead development work again,” Singh said.

Ravi Jatav, a Dalit activist, said that Kanshi Ram founded BSP to empower Dalits and to claim fair share in the governance.

Meanwhile, Noida traffic police had tweeted at 10.32 am informing that the traffic movement was slow outside Dalit Prerna Sthal due to the programme. Ashutosh Singh, Noida traffic inspector, said that a traffic police team was deployed since morning to streamline traffic. “Some people had parked their vehicles along the road side which slowed down traffic movement. We advised people to use alternative routes. Traffic moved slowly but there was no jam. The programme was held from 9 am to 2 pm,” he said.