Farmers Movement Archive

BSP a banyan tree, won’t wilt, says Maya’s nephew Akash

Akash Anand, nephew of party president Mayawati, is fast emerging as the youth face of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).Appointed national coordinator of the BSP in 2019, Akash, 26, had been managing party affairs in various states after the party broke ties with the Samajwadi Party.With the BSP chief launching fresh attack on the Samajwadi Party over engineering split in the party, Akash, in a tweet on Thursday, said, the BSP was not a plant that had grown in a pot and will dry up if water was not given for a while.“In fact, BSP is a banyan tree, if one branch of which is cut, thousands of other branches grow on their own,” he said.Reminding the people of the development and welfare schemes launched by the BSP government in Uttar Pradesh, he said criminals were put behind the bar, the officers used to be present in their office on time, they also used to visit the villages to review the progress of the development projects.“Good governance had become synonymous with Mayawati,” he said.Insisting that the BSP is with the farmers, Akash reminded how Mayawati had been urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw the three farm laws. “The farmers have also realized that BSP is their only well-wisher party,” he said. In a separate tweet, he called upon the youths to work with missionary zeal to bring the BSP to power again.“It is the duty of the youths in the party to accomplish the mission of the party,” he said while urging other to join him.Welcoming the alliance of the BSP with Shiromani Akali Dal for Punjab assembly election, he urged the party workers to work hard for the victory of the alliance in the 2022 assembly election.The party workers should support the alliance whole heartedly by joining the election campaign with the alliance partner, he said.He had campaigned for the BSP-SP alliance in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.However, after the defeat of the alliance, he had been maintaining low profile.While Mayawati and national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra can be seen managing the party affairs, many insist, Akash is working from behind the curtains.“It is he who finalizes the meetings with alliance partners, collects feedback from office-bearers and reviews the meetings organised by the zonal coordinators in various districts. He is present in the meetings of the party leaders organised under the chairmanship of Mayawati,” said a BSP leader. An MBA from a prestigious institute in London, Akash is assisting the party national president in drawing the election campaign strategy for the assembly election.During 2019 Lok Sabha elections, he campaigned for the BSP and had addressed joint rallies with SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.To thwart the challenge posed by Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad, the BSP had projected Akash as the youth face of the party, the BSP leader said.

Hindustan Times

17-06-2021

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