How Kanshi Ram’s Opportunistic Alliances Helped Restrengthen BJP–Hindutva and Confused the Dalits

How Kanshi Ram’s Opportunistic Alliances Helped Restrengthen BJP–Hindutva and Confused the Dalits

-SR Darapuri, National President, All India Peoples Front

 

Kanshi Ram occupies a pivotal place in modern Dalit political history for transforming Dalit assertion into an organized electoral force through the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). His emphasis on numerical strength, caste mobilization, and power capture brought Dalits into the centre of electoral politics. However, one of the most controversial and consequential aspects of his strategy was the repeated opportunistic alliances with ideologically antagonistic forces, particularly the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

This brief argues that Kanshi Ram’s alliance politics—especially BSP–BJP coalitions—played an unintended but decisive role in re-legitimizing Hindutva, strengthening the BJP’s social base, and creating ideological confusion among Dalits. What was presented as tactical pragmatism produced long-term structural benefits for Brahmanical majoritarianism while weakening the moral and ideological clarity of Dalit politics.

1. BJP–Hindutva as an Ideological Opponent of Dalit Emancipation

The BJP is not merely a competitive electoral party but the political arm of the RSS-led Hindutva project, which is historically rooted in:

• Brahmanical social hierarchy
• Cultural homogenization under Hindu nationalism
• Rejection of caste annihilation
• Hostility toward Ambedkarite Buddhism and minority rights

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar consistently warned that Hindu unity was built on Dalit subordination, and that Hindu majoritarian politics would always sacrifice Dalit interests in moments of crisis. From this perspective, any alliance with Hindutva was not a neutral tactical choice but an ideological rupture with Ambedkarite politics.

2. Kanshi Ram’s Rationale: Power First, Ideology Later

Kanshi Ram defended alliances by arguing that:

• BSP had no permanent enemies
• Power must be captured “from wherever possible”
• Ideology could be addressed after acquiring power This framework reduced ideology to an adjustable variable and treated alliances as value-neutral instruments. However, repeated alliances with BJP normalized engagement with a fundamentally anti-Ambedkarite force, blurring the distinction between strategic flexibility and ideological surrender.

3. How These Alliances Strengthened BJP and Hindutva

3.1 Political Legitimation of Hindutva

During the 1990s, BJP was still struggling with its image as an upper-caste, anti-minority party. Alliances with BSP provided it:

• Dalit legitimacy
• Democratic respectability
• A shield against accusations of caste bias

When a Dalit-led party shared power with BJP, it conveyed that Hindutva was compatible with Dalit interests, weakening resistance to it.

3.2 Fragmentation of Anti-Hindutva Forces

BSP–BJP alliances fractured the possibility of a stable anti-Brahmanical coalition of:

• Dalits
• minorities
• secular forces

Instead of consolidating an ideological front against Hindutva, Dalit politics became available for negotiation with it. This fragmentation directly benefited BJP by isolating minorities and weakening collective resistance.

3.3 BJP’s Social Engineering Lessons

Through alliances, BJP learned:

• how to target non-Jatav Dalits and non-dominant OBCs
• how to use symbolic Ambedkar imagery
• how to fragment Dalit unity internally

These lessons later allowed BJP to expand independently, absorb sections of Dalits into Hindutva politics, and marginalize BSP electorally.

4. Ideological Confusion Among Dalits

4.1 Contradictory Political Messaging

Dalits were simultaneously told that:

• Brahmanism is oppressive, and
• Brahmanical parties can be partners in power

This contradiction produced political disorientation. The clarity about caste as a structural enemy was replaced by transactional calculations.

4.2 Dilution of Ambedkar’s Political Warnings

Ambedkar’s critique of Hinduism as a social order was reduced to:

• symbolic reverence
• statues without social reform
• slogans without moral consistency

By allying with BJP, BSP weakened Ambedkar’s core warning that Hindu majoritarianism and Dalit emancipation are fundamentally incompatible.

4.3 Normalization of Cynical Politics

Repeated alliances and abrupt breakups taught Dalits that:

• politics is about deals, not principles
• ideology is negotiable
• power justifies contradiction

This cynicism weakened grassroots activism and discouraged long-term commitment to social transformation.

5. Structural Benefits to Hindutva

5.1 Time and Space for Consolidation

Alliance periods gave BJP time to:

• strengthen RSS networks
• expand into Dalit and OBC localities
• moderate its public image

Once consolidated, BJP no longer needed BSP.

5.2 Symbolic Appropriation of Ambedkar

After gaining legitimacy, BJP rebranded Ambedkar as:

• a nationalist constitutionalist
• a Hindu social reformer
• a figure disconnected from Buddhism and caste radicalism

This appropriation succeeded because BSP had already blurred ideological boundaries.

5.3 Weakening of Independent Dalit Politics

As BSP declined, Dalits lacked:

• strong ideological institutions
• autonomous social movements
• clear anti-Hindutva political orientation

The vacuum was filled by BJP’s welfare nationalism, symbolism, and identity fragmentation.

6. Contrast with Ambedkar’s Political Strategy

Ambedkar refused alliances that compromised moral clarity. For him:

• politics was a tool for social reconstruction
• ideology preceded power
• Hindu majoritarianism was a structural threat

Kanshi Ram reversed this order by treating power as the primary objective and ideology as flexible. This shift proved costly.

Conclusion

Kanshi Ram’s opportunistic alliances—especially with the BJP—may have delivered short-term political gains, but they structurally strengthened Hindutva, diluted the moral force of Dalit politics, and confused Dalits about the nature of their struggle.

By legitimizing Hindutva through partnership, fragmenting anti-caste coalitions, and normalizing principle-light politics, these alliances helped BJP mature into a dominant force while leaving Dalit politics ideologically weakened.

In the long run, Kanshi Ram’s alliance strategy did not defeat Brahmanical power; it enabled its consolidation, confirming Ambedkar’s warning that without ideological clarity, political power becomes fragile and reversible.