BSP national coordinator Akash Anand, 28, is party supremo Mayawati’s nephew and political successor. Besides Mayawati, Anand is the BSP’s main campaigner in the Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh and other states. In a free-wheeling interview with The Indian Express, Anand speaks on a wide range of issues including the state of affairs in the BSP, his plans and the party’s roadmap firmed up by Mayawati, whom he calls “Behenji” in public and “Bua Maa” at home. Excerpts:
Behenji always said nobody from our family should join politics. After graduation, I did a couple of finance courses, came back, ran my business for two-three years. It (my joining politics) was not something that we had planned. It is just that my father (Anand Kumar) had been supporting Behenji for a long time. And she had tried a couple of more people, who could take up the party’s reins. She is a strict follower of Manyavar sahib (BSP founder Kanshi Ram)’s policy that nobody from the family should come and take over the party. It’s not a dynastic party. So, I feel that when she tried a couple of more people, who did not rise to the occasion, then senior members of her circle advised that if she can bring in someone from the family as the custodian that will at least give some sort of stability to the party for the future. So it was a surprise for us too.
In your rally speeches sometimes, you suddenly show aggression. What makes you angry?
Aggression is not meant to be personal. The people and the (Dalit) community we are representing, when injustice happens to them and when we speak on their issues, it automatically raises my voice and I get angry. For example, it makes me angry when we talk about people who do not get jobs due to employers’ indifference and exam paper leaks.
Why does the BSP refrain from holding protests on public issues?
When you come to streets, you fight with the government machinery. In that situation you may have to go to jail too. You will have to spend money on fighting the case in the court. Another option is that you note when something wrong and unjust is happening. The party also notes that. Taking action legally is wiser. After that, when the opportunity comes, give a reply to the government by casting your vote. If something wrong is happening, changing that government is necessary rather than fighting with the government. If governments could have been changed by fighting (on streets), how many agitations would have changed the government? Check the history. The politics is like a chess game. It will be better if you fight wisely. That will give results too.
The BSP’s performance has been declining since 2014. What are its reasons and how will you revive the party?
Not only BSP but all Opposition parties are declining across the country. Whether it is Congress or the regional parties, they are all struggling now. BSP is not the only party in it. In fact, at least BSP’s core vote back is intact even today. We have maintained our vote share in Lok Sabha elections since 2014. We believe our vote share will remain intact. Gaps have remained but it cannot be said that Behenji is not communicative and does not meet people. Her schedule remains packed throughout the day. It takes time even for me to meet her. She meets everyone.
Many prominent faces from the Dalit, Muslim and OBC communities have left the BSP over the years. As the party’s second in-command, will you convince them to return to the party or groom new leaders?
People have gone out of the BSP on their own but their votes stayed with the party. People from “sarv samaj” (all communities) are associated with Behenji and the BSP. And the party believes in creating new leaders and giving them opportunity. At present 50% position in the party are reserved for youths. So we will use this opportunity to cultivate youth leaders. BSP is not the party of only Dalits but sarv samaj. We have strong Yadav leaders too.
People have created several false narratives that BSP is “B-team of BJP” and party leaders do not meet people. The fact is that we have several other votes apart from Dalits.
So far, you had been working in different states. Why have you started your political activity late in UP, the party’s main turf?
My training is still going on. As a star campaigner, my current task is to tell people about the policies of Behenji’s past governments. I am trying to do the best I can to inform people about the development, jobs, law and order Behenji had given to UP. And we call that Behanj’s model of governance. I was trying to cover same thing in states outside UP too. I feel that sooner or later, the responsibility will increase from just campaigning. Just not me, but all the leaders who are groomed, they are given training by asking to work across the country outside their respective states and see what are the challenges there.
You were assigned party works in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana for the Assembly elections last year. But the results there did not meet the party’s expectations.
As I told you, my work is campaigning only. If there were other responsibilities, too, like ticket selection, I am sure we could have improved the results. I think now slowly and steadily I will have that responsibility where changes can be made. If you have to judge, do it in 2027 elections (UP Assembly polls).
Some core Dalit vote of the BSP seems to have shifted to BJP over Hindutva. How will you bring it back?
It is not that some core (Dalit) vote has switched from BSP to BJP. I think a lot of people had gravitated towards Narendra Modi ji’s charismatic leadership style. We have seen that in 2014. The way he came, promised and committed on a lot of things which everyone wanted. If you had delivered it, I think the country would have been in a very different place. BSP does not align with Opposition parties for precise reasons that they make promises but do not deliver. When UPA was in power, Congress had posed so many challenges to the BSP. Similarly, in Narendra Modi rule, BJP too has posed several challenges to BSP. But we don’t see that vote share is shifting. It is a temporary phenomenon that we have seen in the last 7-8 years. But now if you talk to people on the ground, it seems there is a shift away from that. People are realising that promises of jobs, taking India to top three economies and other issues that he (Modi) had committed but did not deliver. All those votes that had got deviated for hope of a better future or for somebody who was better at communicating his promises, will now come back. Our track record means a lot more than manifestos.
Why has the BSP stayed away from joining any alliance – INDIA or NDA?
INDIA and NDA alliances have made so many commitments. We do not ally with them as their past track records do not indicate its fulfilment on issues like jobs, development, etc… After the election results, we will take the call on who we will join if such a situation arises.
Is BSP open for a post-poll alliance and for joining a government?
Yes. Behenji has made it clear that a post-poll alliance is on the table for the BSP depending on the situation.
The Opposition parties call BSP a “B-team of BJP” as they believe that BSP candidates are fielded to cut their votes?
We too can say that BSP’s candidate was strong but SP-Congress fielded a candidate to cut our votes. It is evident too. When BSP contested independently (in UP) in 2014, SP and Congress too had fielded candidates. We maintained our vote share but could not win any seat because they cut into our candidates’ votes. When we forged an alliance with them (with SP and RLD in 2019), we won seats on the same vote share. If you look at it with that prospective, it is SP and Congress who cut the votes. Also, it is meaningless for a party (Congress) which has only 2% vote share to field candidates in this state (UP).
The SP-Congress alliance is saying that the BSP has fielded more Muslim candidates which may cut into their votes.
Is it a given that Muslim samaj is voter of Congress? Muslim community has voted for SP, BSP and Congress too. They (Muslims) are not jageer of somebody’s home. These parties have no base and ideology. SP is just a regional party. Congress has no significance in UP. They have created this negative narrative (about BSP). On the ground, they don’t have a single candidate who can rival BSP’s nominees. We don’t field candidates with the purpose of cutting someone’s votes or to benefit someone else. We field candidates so that they raise the issues of their community in Parliament after winning the elections. BSP has sent people from those castes to Parliament who had been ignored by the Congress and BJP in 70 years. SP and Congress are experts in cutting others’ votes and spoiling others’ elections.
The BSP has denied ticket to majority of its 10 sitting MPs in UP. Why?
Most winnable candidates are fielded according the prevailing environment. Every party does that. BJP too has changed most of the candidates.
How will the BSP under Akash be different from the party under Mayawati?
The way Ma’am (Mayawati) has run the party, I will also try to take the party ahead by following the same principles and guidelines. I have come with my own thought process. That thought might bring some results after 15-20 years. I can experiment. But Behenji’s model is tried and tested. BSP has formed government four times (in UP) following the Behenji model only. That model is solid and I will implement the same. When it will deem fit, changes will be made with her permission.
You gave a digital push to the BSP. What are the changes in the pipeline?
Yes, there are some changes that we will bring in. But these are not my changes. The decision to come on Twitter (now X) was of Behenji herself. It just coincided with me joining the political sphere then. Behenji evaluates everything very closely. She has got the website (BSP) revamped. She had given idea for launching a mobile application. We are trying to execute that. It will be first of its kind that will open communication between anybody in the system and leadership. Anybody will be able to communicate with Behenji via that app.
How many seats the BSP is contesting and how many seats you expect it to win?
We are fighting on more than 400 seats across the country, except for North-east. Our votes have been quite constant since 2004. It will not be wise to predict any number (that BSP hopes to win)… but we are very confident that this time we will have better results than what we had in the past.
Mayawati and you too in rallies often take potshots at Chandrashekhar Aazad without taking his name? Do you see any threat for the BSP from him?
Manyavar sahib (Kanshi Ram) had replied this long back in his book “Chamcha Yug” in which he had defined such people, their characteristics, traits and who prop them up. Opposition parties need excuses to weaken BSP. So they often raise such parties. There were such parties and people also at the time of Manayvar sahib and Behenji. He (Aazad) is not alone, there are several others too. We don’t take them as any threat. They are “seasonal”, who come and go.
When will you contest the election?
I will not contest the election. There is the guideline set by Behenji that our job is to create leaders in our communities, to get MLAs and MPs elected rather than getting myself elected. I will continue to do that.
But Mayawati has herself contested polls?
That time of Behenji was different. Current scenario is different. Also when you are from the family, there are certain guidelines that we have to follow. It is part of the guidelines that I will work in the party. There is open guideline from Behenji that nobody from our family will go to Rajya Sabha, Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha.
In recent years Mayawati had been targeting the Congress more than the BJP. In the current elections, she is attacking both the Congress and the BJP, even targeting PM Modi. You too are targeting both the parties. How has this change happened?
It is part of our political strategy when and where we attack and against whom, considering its benefits or damages for our people. Behenji never takes any decision for herself but for her samaj. She knows if she outright targets someone, how much that can cause damage to our people. In other parties, people probably have money and political powers. For example, Congress is always in power in some state. So they have a political back-up to protect their people. But BSP is not in power in any state. So, if our any statement causes damage to our people, Behenji will not do that.
When you attack someone, you also have to factor in its retaliation. If we keep attacking the Central government, Modiji or Amit Shahji, we know that there will be retaliation. That retaliation will not be directly on us but it will be on people around us, and our community. Our community is not capable to fight ED, CBI or local authorities. How will we protect them? If our any statement and action can cause damage to our people, we do not take such action. But yes, anything which is wrong, that will be called wrong. If people vote for the right candidates, we will get the opportunity to rectify the wrongs.
There is a perception that Mayawati avoids speaking against the BJP for fear of action against herself and her family.
Had Income Tax department’s raids not been conducted on our family? It was done. ED raid was done. Cases were opened against my father’s companies. What is left? What else they can do now? It not about us, it is about our community. We have gone through this process but a worker who donates to the party from his daily earning, if he lands in any problem, how we will protect them. BSP’s family has crores of people. You know how vindictive is the current government, it spares no one. So we cannot put our community at risk. “Abhi samay kharab hai” (time is not right). When the time improves, we will answer every question.
