Lucknow: Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati has once again explained her approach towards the political role of members of her family, invoking BSP founder Kanshi Ram and Dr B.R. Ambedkar as examples of putting the interests of a movement above family ties.
In a detailed statement on Sunday, Mayawati said people working in politics and for the Bahujan movement must rise above attachment to their brothers, sisters and close relatives if they genuinely want to succeed politically and work for society.
Mayawati said Kanshi Ram had maintained a distance from giving political benefits to his close relatives after entering politics. According to her, he allowed relatives to work for the organisation only in a selfless capacity and did not promote them for political gain.
She also pointed to Kanshi Ram's decision not to establish a personal family and said he devoted his entire life to the welfare of the Bahujan Samaj. Mayawati said she was inspired by Kanshi Ram and decided to devote her own life to the Bahujan movement.
Explaining the presence of her family members around her, Mayawati said that as an unmarried woman she had, out of necessity, kept one of her siblings with her. She referred to her younger brother Anand Kumar, saying that he had been with her for several years and had been assisting her as well as working in party-related responsibilities.
Mayawati said it was at Anand Kumar's special request that his elder son, Akash Anand, was brought forward in politics. However, she said Akash's conduct and activities after his marriage eventually led to his removal from the party.
Mayawati also referred to Akash Anand's father-in-law, former BSP leader Ashok Siddharth. She alleged that Akash had become deeply influenced by his father-in-law and said bringing him back into the BSP under those circumstances would amount to a betrayal of the party.
In the recent sequence of events, she first removed Akash Anand from key organisational responsibilities and subsequently announced on September 10 that he had been completely separated from the BSP.
Mayawati said she had been facing a dilemma over which member of Anand Kumar's family, if any, should be given political responsibility.
She said that after considering the matter carefully, she decided that if a family member was to be given responsibility, it should be someone who would not follow the path she associated with Akash Anand.
"As for the possibility of enlisting the help of his daughter in the future: if, following her marriage, her situation were to turn out just like Akash Anand’s, it would not be in the party's best interest. Keeping this possibility in mind, it is in the party's interest to completely refrain from assigning any party responsibilities to either Akash Anand or his sister; this decision is final and will not be altered," Mayawati emphasised. She further added, "Instead, only Ishan Anand from Anand Kumar’s family will be brought forward and entrusted with a position of respect and responsibility within the party, someone who is unlikely to get involved in the kind of issues that plague Akash Anand and his sister. That is how it appears for now; of course, one cannot predict the future with certainty."
Mayawati nevertheless warned that if Ishan committed any serious act against the party, he too would be removed. In such a situation, she said, no other member of Anand Kumar's family would be given a party responsibility.
Instead, she said, a dedicated and loyal Dalit worker from within the organisation would be brought forward.
Its noteworthy that 0n September 12, Mayawati had announced that neither Akash Anand nor Ishan Anand would be given any political post in the BSP. She left open the possibility of her niece Deepika Anand assisting her father, Anand Kumar, in party-related work.
Mayawati also referred to the September 23 all-India meeting of the BSP in her statement, saying that the meeting would discuss important issues concerning the country and the public, along with the issue of family members and organisational responsibilities. The September 23 meeting has been announced as the BSP's second national-level meeting within a month. At the September 3 meeting, Mayawati removed Akash Anand from the post of national convener. He was subsequently removed from the party itself on September 10.
To explain her position on family and public institutions, Mayawati also invoked a letter attributed to Dr B.R. Ambedkar.
She said Ambedkar wrote to his son Yashwant B. Ambedkar on February 23, 1956, from 26 Alipur Road, Civil Lines, New Delhi, concerning the management of the Buddha Bhushan Printing Press.
According to Mayawati's account, Ambedkar warned Yashwant against preventing Shantaram Upsham from performing his duties as accountant and cashier in the press. He stressed that the printing press was public property and not the personal property of either Ambedkar or his son.
Mayawati used the example to underline her argument that public institutions and movements should not be treated as extensions of a family and that personal relationships cannot take precedence over public responsibility.
Concluding her statement, Mayawati said the entire Bahujan Samaj is her “real family”.
She said her mission is to use the “master key of political power” to transform the Bahujan Samaj from an exploited community into a ruling class and ensure its welfare. Mayawati said that, in the interest of the party and the movement, she could take action even against her own brothers, sisters and other family members.
She presented this position as being inspired by Kanshi Ram and by the example she attributed to Dr Ambedkar.
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