His political theory was not codified; it depended excessively on his own political judgement. That is why the BSP and the Dalit movement have not appeared, in the last few years, sure-footed in handling some of the challenges that they face. Kanshi Ram never saw political power in UP as an end in itself; he saw it as the master key for gaining entry to the rest of India. But the BSP increasingly looks like a regional political party whose mass base and ambitions are confined to UP.

Political power did not quite open the doors to the socio-economic transformation that the BSP’s political success had promised. Kanshi Ram’s refusal to allow internal democracy within the party may have saved it from the fragmentation that destroyed much of Dalit politics, but in the hands of his successor this instrument appears more a lever to ensure personal dominance. That is why lakhs of Dalit activists and democrats will miss Kanshi Ram ‘saheb’. So will I.

The writer is senior fellow at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi