Once seen as an undisputed Dalit icon and a potential prime ministerial candidate, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati, a four-time chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, is now a pale shadow of her past self, facing a steady erosion of her support base. None of her political strategies seems to be helping in resurrecting her crumbling career, while the BJP, through some smart social engineering, is clearly chipping away at her citadel.
The anointment of her 28-year-old nephew Akash Anand as her political successor reflects a desperate move on the part of Mayawati to infuse new energy into the party. In the bargain, the BSP, which once claimed to represent alternative politics, has finally fallen into a familiar trap of dynastic politics. This comes as an ironic twist for Mayawati, who had declared, in her autobiography in 2008, that she would never appoint a family member as her successor. Handing over the baton to Anand, a political novice with no mass base shows that the BSP supremo has run out of ideas to revive the party. Anand is the son of the BSP chief’s youngest brother Anand Kumar.
He returned to India after completing his education in London in 2017, and has been associated with the BSP ever since. Anand oversaw the BSP campaigns in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Chhattisgarh in the recently held assembly elections, and the result has been pathetic as the party was unable to find ways to attract voters. His elevation may not go down well with the followers of BSP founder Kanshi Ram, who was against dynastic politics and kept his family away from it.