Rahul Gandhi Honors Kanshi Ram, Admits Congress Shortcomings

In Lucknow on March 13, 2026, Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, paid tribute to Kanshi Ram, the founder of the Bahujan Samaj Party, during a Samvidhan Sammelan event at the Indira Gandhi Pratishthan. Speaking ahead of Kanshi Ram's birth anniversary on March 15, Gandhi acknowledged the Congress party's past shortcomings in supporting marginalized communities, which he said prompted leaders like Kanshi Ram to forge independent paths in Indian politics.

Gandhi described Kanshi Ram as a lifelong fighter for equality and social justice among Dalits, Adivasis, Other Backward Classes, and other deprived groups. He noted that the Congress had failed to advance quickly enough on these issues, stating, "The path on which we were moving, we should have moved at a faster pace. There have been shortcomings on the part of the Congress." Had the party fulfilled its responsibilities, Gandhi added, Kanshi Ram "would not have been successful" in building his own movement. In a pointed remark, he claimed that if India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who died in 1964, had been alive during Kanshi Ram's rise in the late 1970s, "Kanshi Ram would have been a Chief...