BSP’s true successor would be one like Kanshi Ram’s disciple: Mayawati
Mayawati hints at her political successor, emphasizing dedication to BSP ideals, amid tensions over her previous choice of Akash Anand.
Days after expelling Ashok Siddharth, the father-in-law of her nephew Akash Anand, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Sunday created suspense over her political successor.
In a series of posts on X, she set conditions for her successor. “The true successor of the party and its movement would be one like Kanshi Ram’s disciple, who dedicates their life to strengthening the party, enduring every hardship in the process,” she said.
Anand, 30, is the national coordinator of the BSP and Mayawati’s political successor. She sacked Anand last year only to reinstate him later and appoint him as her political successor.
On Wednesday (February 12), the BSP chief announced the expulsion of Ashok Siddharth from the party on charges of engaging in ‘anti-party activities’.
The announcement has caused ripples in the party over her next move. Will Akash Anand will be her successor or his younger brother Ishan Anand will take the reins from the BSP chief after the flop show of Akash in Delhi, Haryana and Maharashtra assembly elections?.
After Mayawati declared Akash as her political heir, there was churning among the party leaders. The senior leaders termed it against the constitution of the party and the ideals of BSP founder Kanshi Ram. Kanshi Ram was against the promotion of a family in the party and did not give any post in the party to his relatives, said a BSP leader.
After BSP formed majority government in Uttar Pradesh in 2007, Mayawati had announced that her successor will not come from her family. Rather, her heir will belong to Jatav community and will be 15 years younger to her, she had said.
In the posts on Sunday, she said, “BSP, the party and movement founded by the venerable Kanshi Ram after sacrificing everything, to take the caravan of humanistic self-respect and self-esteem of Baba Saheb Dr BR Ambedkar to power in the country, prioritises the movement over self-interest and personal relations in which the interest of the Bahujan is paramount.”
“Being a disciple and successor of Kanshi Ram following in his footsteps, I too will continue the struggle by making every sacrifice till my last breath so that the people of Bahujan Samaj can stand on their own feet by getting free from the life of political slavery and social helplessness,” she further wrote on X.
“Therefore, like the venerable Kanshi Ram, even during my lifetime, any real successor of the party and the movement can be the same only if he too, like Kanshi Ram’s disciple, till their last breath continuously works with all their heart and soul to take the party and the movement forward, bearing every pain and suffering,” Mayawati said.
“Along with this, it is important for all the big and small BSP office bearers and workers across the country to work continuously with their entire body, mind and money by being accountable with full loyalty and honesty towards the instructions, discipline and responsibility prescribed by the party chief,” the BSP chief added.
“With this responsibility, especially on the strength of the cadre, along with strengthening the party organisation at the ground level and increasing the support base in the entire society, we have to work with full vigour in the preparation of every election in the future so that BSP, the only ray of hope for the Bahujan Samaj, can get the expected and awaited success,” she said.