They were all there, to bid Kanshi final farewell

There were also political allies who had parted ways not so amicably — BJP leaders Arun Jaitely, Kalraj Mishra and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, JD(U) leader George Fernandes, among others.

But perhaps it was the ceaseless wave of Kanshi Ram’s followers — the Dalits whom he gave a powerful voice to — who testify to their leader’s accomplishments and triumph. As they jostled, pushed and filed into the party office for a last look at their leader, amidst the sounds of Buddhist chants and gongs, it was a stunning spectacle today, of quiet vigour and vitality of their new identity — of inclusiveness, empowerment and privilege.

If, in the villages it is the poor peasantry, wretched in their subjugation and poverty, in the cities, Kanshi Ram’s devotees are the bedrock of bureaucratic India — the vast, faceless, white-collar workers, subordinates and clerks, who he first enrolled as part of his mission, called BAMSEF (Backward and Minority, Scheduled Caste Employees Federation). They came in hundreds, from public sector banks and insurance companies, post offices to courier companies, from VSNL to BSNL, Indian Oil companies to Indian railways, co-operatives to commissions, police force and judiciary offices, to express their gratitude and indebtedness to their leader who made life possible.

It was a visibly shaken Mayawati who addressed the mourning crowds when she read out Kanshi Ram’s last wishes. “Kanshi Ramji will be cremated according to Budhhist rites,’’ she said. “His ashes will not be strewn in the Ganga or Yamuna, but will be kept permanently in the BSP...