BJP pays homage to Kanshi Ram to woo Dalits before 2024 polls

Top BJP functionaries paid homage to BSP founder Kanshi Ram on his 89th birthday anniversary Wednesday, in a move seen as the party’s effort to reach out to Dalits ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha polls. The BJP-led Centre had honoured SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav earlier this year with a posthumous Padma Vibhushan, the country’s second-highest civilian award. The party now turned to Dalit ideologue Kanshi Ram, who had turned BSP into a political powerhouse in UP after forming it in 1984.