Kanshi Ram was born to Bishan Kaur and Hari Singh in Ramdassia (Ad Dharmi/Mulnivasi) community of the Scheduled Caste group, which is the largest group in Punjab.
In 1978 he formed the, BAMCEF-Backward(SC/ST & OBC) and Minority Community Employees Federation. The BAMCEF was purely non political,Non Religious & Non Agitional organisation.
He started his attempt of unifying the Dalit vote bank in 1981 and by 1984 he founded the Bahujan Samaj Party. He represented the 11th Lok Sabha from Hoshiarpur Constituency, Kanshiram was also elected as member of Lok Sabha from Etawah in Uttar Pradesh . In 2001 he publicly announced Kumari Mayawati as his successor.