Nothing official has been announced but BSP amplifiers have spoken. Mayawati has named Akash Anand heir apparent to lord over the Bahujan Samaj in a replay of what BSP founder Kanshi Ram had done when he named Mayawati his heir apparent without as much as a “May I?” So, today, the Bahujan Samaj Party is no different from any other family-owned political outfit and just like its ilk, BSP workers are singing the glory of the successor. Mayawati apparently made the announcement at a party meet in Lucknow called to take decisions for the 2024 general elections.

And the most important decision happened to be that henceforth ‘Akash’ is the limit for Mayawati’s nephew. Mayawati let it be known that Akash will strengthen the BSP in states where it has not broken much ground so far. At one time, Bahujan Samaj Party used to be a party which was considered an alternative to the Congress, and to the Bharatiya Janata Party, but for reasons Mayawati, the party remained restricted to Uttar Pradesh and, to some extent, Uttarakhand, two states where Akash Anand is not a stranger.

The newly named BSP crown prince won’t find the going easy, unlike the aunt who had BSP founder Kanshi Ram’s political acumen to rely on though she is as good a teacher as Kanshi Ram was. That being said, the Bahujan Samaj Party has grown manifold in size and impact since Kanshi Ram’s time and the party with the elephant symbol faces elephantine issues to tackle head-on. Akash Anand has been handling a few of them in the years since 2019, when he was made ‘National Coordinator’.

His role in the recently held 5-states’ assembly elections was to oversee the party’s election machinery in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, in Telangana also, which wasn’t new to him. Akash now outranks his father and Mayawati’s younger brother Anand Kumar in the party hierarchy, not that Anand Kumar is complaining. The BSP did not set any rivers in Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh on fire, but Mayawati saw fit to name Akash Anand successor.

The heir apparent undertook a 14-day padayatra in Rajasthan and ever since Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, padyatras have become the rage. Mayawati was pleased with the nephew’s Rajasthan padyatra and, lo behold, Akash is the Bahujan Samaj Party’s man for the long haul, a generational and gender shift – from the ‘behan’ to the ‘baanja’, the BSP is banking on dynastical succession for rejuvenation.

BSP insiders say Akash Anand has been overseeing party affairs for over a year and he is as good as any heir apparent, so hold your errant tongues. The party is acutely aware it hasn’t made electoral breakthroughs in recent years. Mayawati has been largely confined to the background and adding politicians like Danish Ali to the party did not rejuvenate the Bahujan Samaj’s trust in the BSP.

Perhaps, one could say that Mayawati was at her tether’s end when she named Akash Anand heir apparent. The nephew now has to deliver. The party apparatus is still intact and deadwood like Danish Ali have been sent packing. The action taken against Danish Ali must have been part of Akash Anand’s elevation and, perhaps, his decision from start to finish. Akash Anand will be locking horns with the likes of Akhilesh Yadav, Rahul Gandhi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

The 2024 general elections will be Akash Anand’s initiation into cutthroat politics with no quarters given or taken. One thing is for sure, Mayawati must have immense faith in her nephew to put him to test so close to a general election, a make or break challenge. The BSP failed to win in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana assembly elections but who said Mayawati’s nephew did not try? This will be yet another family saga and a direct challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose diatribes against dynastic rule haven’t made a dent. (IPA Service)