The royal club of nepotism in India has a new entrant in the form of BSP supremo Mayawati. Receiving brickbats for her opportunistic alliance with SP in the wake of 2019 elections, the politician is now in news for introducing her nephew, Akash Kumar into politics.
According to an investigative video posted by ABP news, Mayawati has decided to launch her nephew Akash Kumar into politics. To quote the politician herself, “In a befitting reply to one and all, I will connect Shri Akash with the movement of BSP. I will now provide him the opportunity to join our struggles. They thought that I will sideline him, but I am the disciple of the venerable Kanshiram ji.”
It is very clear that for a long time, Mayawati has been worried about her true successor. There have been close aides of Mayawati, touted to be her successors, but she sidelined each one of them. Mayawati has also been an accused in the case of disproportionate assets, so she seems to be afraid about the future of the party and this might be the reason why the name of Akash Kumar, this young kid has cropped up. Let’s see what happens.
The one thing constant about politics is that nothing stays permanent. Once sworn enemies, the parties of SP and BSP have now joined hands, despite the scourge of the Guest House Case, just because they see BJP, the ruling party in both the state and the Central Government, as a bigger threat. Now in a bid to strengthen her claim for the 2019 elections, Mayawati hasn’t hesitated from joining the bandwagon of nepotism.
Besides, Mayawati is not the first politician who has tried to bring the family into politics. Indian politics is replete with nepotism calling the shots more than once. Leaving aside the legendary case of the Nehru Gandhi dynasty, there have been other dynasties as well, who see politics as a lucrative base for their biological successors.
Be it the notorious Yadav families of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh [Lalu and Mulayam respectively], or the vicious dynasty of deceased DMK supremo M Karunanidhi, or even the new aspirants from TDP and TRS respectively, nepotism is as common with Indian politics as the sunrise in the east. As such, Mayawati is only trying to secure a ‘safe future’ for her relatives through Indian politics.
However, it doesn’t seem that ‘Behenji’ is too happy about the ABP report. Going hammer and tongs after the news agency, she threatened of dire consequences for daring to cover her nephew. To quote a report from Punjab Kesari, “These media channels are running special shows in a well-planned conspiracy to defame my nephew. Likewise, other media are dancing to the tunes of casteist opposition.”
The report further quoted Mayawati saying, “This time my nephew Akash has been dragged intentionally into the mess. His slippers are being mentioned as well as if they have bought it. Now I will make Akash join the party movement, which will serve as a tight slap to these scheming people.”
She also accused the opposition of trying to defame her party, when the video of her party workers gobbling up her birthday cake surface on the social media and went viral. Looks like the fear of losing 2019 badly is now writ large on Mayawati.