After Akash Anand, BSP chief Mayawati distances from niece too; announces key role for Ishan

New Delhi: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has said that her nephew Akash Anand and his sister Deepika Anand will remain completely away from any responsibility in the party, while her younger nephew Ishan Anand will be brought forward and given a “respectable responsibility” in the organisation.

In a detailed post on X, Mayawati said she had taken the decision after “deeply reflecting on every aspect with great seriousness”. She said the move was guided by the example of BSP founder Kanshi Ram and a letter written by Dr B.R. Ambedkar to his son.

Mayawati said people entering politics and seeking to work for society should rise above family attachments.

“Keeping my own experiences in mind, if they want to succeed in politics and do something for society, they must rise above attachment to their brothers, sisters, close relatives, and so on, just like I did, and work with complete honesty and dedication,” she said.

Referring to Kanshi Ram, Mayawati said the BSP founder kept his close relatives away from political benefits after entering politics and allowed them to work in the party organisation only with “selfless dedication”. She said Kanshi Ram devoted his entire life to the welfare and upliftment of the Bahujan Samaj without starting his own family.

Mayawati said she had also followed this path and “devoted my entire life to the ‘Bahujan Samaj.’” She added that, as a woman, she had been compelled to keep at least one of her siblings with her, and said her younger brother Anand Kumar had been serving her for many years.

According to the BSP supremo, she had brought Anand Kumar’s eldest son Akash Anand into politics at the insistence of family members, however, Akash’s conduct and activities after his marriage led to his separation from the party.

Mayawati alleged that Akash had become “completely entangled in the web” of his father-in-law Ashok Siddharth. Bringing him back, she said, would be “a grave betrayal of the party” and an “anti-party wrongful act”.

She said she had also considered whether any other member of Anand Kumar’s family should be brought forward.

“No member from their family should be brought forward in the party who would follow in Akash’s footsteps,” she said.

The BSP leader also said Ishan Anand would instead be given a “respectable responsibility” in the BSP.

However, she warned that if he commits a “serious anti-party act”, he too would be removed from the party. In that eventuality, she said, no other member of Anand Kumar’s family would be given any responsibility and a dedicated Dalit worker already associated with the party would be brought forward.

She also referred to a February 23, 1956 letter she said Dr Ambedkar had written to his son Yashwant B. Ambedkar regarding the Buddhist Bhushan Printing Press. She cited Ambedkar’s position that the press was “public property, neither yours nor mine” and that no irregularity could be permitted in a public account.

Concluding her statement, Mayawati said the entire Bahujan Samaj was her “real family” and described her mission as ensuring its welfare by transforming it “from the exploited to the ruling class”.

“For this, I can go to any extent even against my brothers and sisters, as exemplified by Babasaheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, this is my resolve too,” she said.

She also announced that the BSP’s important All-India meeting would be held on September 23, saying the meeting would enable party workers to once again devote themselves wholeheartedly to party work.

IANS