It is about September 1977. The Emergency was over. Indira Gandhi’s government had gone in the Lok Sabha elections and Morarji Desai’s government of Janata Party had come in its place. To remove caste discrimination in the country, the leaders of the then ruling parties organized a three-day seminar at the Constitution Club of Delhi.

Raj Narayan, the big political hero of that time was in the center of that seminar. Raj Narayan was then the health minister in Morarji Desai’s government. It was the same Raj Narayan, who contested against Indira Gandhi from Rae Bareli in 1971 and filed a writ petition against Indira in the High Court.

In the 1977 Lok Sabha elections, Raj Narayan defeated Indira Gandhi by about 55,000 votes. That’s why his tuti was speaking in the political corridor. When Raj Narayan started his speech in that seminar, he used the word Harijan several times to talk about their welfare. At that time, many Dalit leaders were also present in that meeting, but no one opposed it, nor did they draw attention to it.

Mayawati, who was associated with BAMCEF, was also present in that meeting. At that time he was only 21 years old. When Mayawati came on stage, she lashed out at Raj Narayan at the very beginning of her address. Mayawati said that those socialist leaders who do not know that the word Harijan is derogatory, how will they be able to eradicate caste discrimination. Taking the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar, he said that even the framer of the Constitution has used the word Scheduled Castes for us in the Constitution, then why would any other leader call us Harijans.

Due to this talk of Mayawati, the people present there not only started clapping but also started raising slogans of Janata Party and Raj Narayan Murdabad. Mayawati came into limelight after this incident. BAMCEF, the founder of Kanshirim, wanted to make her a star. Later Kanshi Ram reached Mayawati’s house and he caught Mayawati on the path of politics. At that time she was a school teacher and was preparing for the IAS exam.