By Tirthankar Mitra
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati’s decision to anoint her nephew Akash Anand as her political successor and to suspend party MP Danish Ali were almost simultaneous. Apparently unconnected, the two incidents raise some questions whose replies spell adverse political fallouts for BSP, come 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
For quite sometime now, family and blood ties have been the determinants of passing on the political legacy. Indira Gandhi had been the most infamous practitioner of this trend, while the rest of the pack including Sheikh Abdullah, Charan Singh, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Yadav, Deve Gowda and Mamata Banerjee being the noted adherents of a trend which sent intra-party democracy for a six.
BSP supremo Mayawati seemed likely to buck this trend if her own admission in cold print is anything to go by. Had she not stated in her autobiography “Mere Sangharshmay Jeevan ki Safarnama” ” Whenever I declare my successor, he will not be among my …..relatives.”
Anointing her nephew Akash Anand as her political successor is symptomatic of the lack of political imagination. Of late, her decisions are marked by its absence. To call a spade by no other name, the BSP leadership has run out of ideas. It is one of the causes of its political decline.
The heir apparent Akash has neither any political background nor any mass base. Having studied in London, he became a leading light in his aunt’s political outfit in 2017 and oversaw its poll campaign in the recent Assembly elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Telangana and the results state that BSP fared miserably.
In Uttar Pradesh it has just one MLA, a far cry in a state where in 2007, the BSP was in the majority. Thus by the cold logic of electoral politics, Akash has underperformed. vis-a-vis her aunt, a self-made leader who made her presence felt in the male dominated politics of Hindi heartland. Akash has to travel a long and arduous political journey. Mayawati can be credited with stitching together an unlikely coalition of Brahmins and Dalits with sustainability.
But as the era of one party dominance progresses, the BSP finds itself unable to attract the voters. Mayawati finds political loneliness at the apex of her party to be her sole companion. Hence the ushering in of Akash who though sans having any political acumen is of Mayawati:s bloodline. The BSP supremo’s decision to induct a green horn at the top of the party not only smacks of dynastic politics; it displays a marked lack of political ingenuity.
But given BSP’s absence from anti-CAA protests and demonstrations against anti-Dalit violence, induction of Akash is a pointer to Mayawati’s wishful thinking. By infusing new blood, she is looking for a political miracle. Such miracles are outcome of a combinations of sound political decisions and hard work to rebuild a political base. Akash’s induction and his subsequent activities together with their outcome are pointers to this decision’s inefficacy.
Suspension of Kunwar Danish Ali, the BSP MP who raised his voice in protest against the questions asked to TMC MP Mahua Moitra on the cash for a questions issue is a case in point. For it not only alienates an influential party leader, it also sends a wrong message to members of a Muslim vote bank. Ali has been suspended “for twisting/ moulding the intent of questions” put to Moitra by the committee chairperson. One is at a loss to realise how Ali’s words embarrass the BSP leadership. The BSP leadership will rue its decision to suspend Ali at its leisure. For unlike Akash, the suspended BSP MP is neither a political novice nor a pushover.
To make matters worse for BSP, in the heels of Ali’s suspension comes the expulsion of Imran Masood, an influential leader in the Saharanpur region. To look on the situation at the other side of the hill, Congress will get a boost in the Lok Sabha elections next year with Masood keeping Ali company as the latter is in close touch with INDIA bloc constituent Congress.
Both are prominent Muslim leaders and their proximity to Congress will be vital where their community have a key role. These are the districts Meerut, Moradabad, Muzaffarnagar, Bareilly, Aligarh and Saharanpur. Mayawati has maintained silence on Muslim issues. And it showed in 2022 Assembly elections all 34 of BSP rival Samajwadi Party’s minority nominees emerged victorious.
Over the past five years, the BSP for its own reasons has extended its support to the BJP-led NDA government. Having demanded reservation for SC, ST and Dalit women, Mayawati stated her party would support the law during the discussion of Women’s Reservation Bill in the Parliament.
As for Ali, it is learnt from party sources that his stand differed from the party on Triple talaq and abrogation of Article 370. He also did an unpardonable act in BSP lexicon giving the birthday celebrations of his party supremo a miss.
If Ali reasoned that such events should be skipped amid the uproar on CAA and NRC issues, his logic cut no ice. If he has to be part and parcel of a political outfit practicing personalised politics, he has to go by its rules and not his own even if they stand to reason and the BSP’s doesn’t.
As things stand now, BSP which was a major political force in the 1990’s and in the first decade of the present century, is a pale shadow. Only Mayawati is responsible for the continuing decline in BSP support base This seems to be continuing in 2024 Lok Sabha polls. (IPA Service)
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