Kanshiram Leader of the Dalits

Badri Narayan

Viking, 288 pages, Rs499

Venerated as a Dalit icon, Kanshiram (1934–2006) is today regarded second only to Ambedkar in the Dalit movement. This book illuminates his journey, from his early years in rural Punjab to eventually starting the Bahujan Samaj Party in 1984. Drawing on a range of oral and written sources, Badri Narayan shows us how Kanshiram mobilised Dalits with his homespun idiom, his cycle rallies, and, uniquely, by invoking local folk heroes and myths to promote Dalit self-respect. Unlike Ambedkar, who sought its annihilation, Kanshiram saw caste as a basis for Dalit identity, and a source of political empowerment.