How Bahujan Samaj Party, which turns 40 in 2024, is bracing for new era

A BSP leader who did not want to be named told this newspaper that "Behenji" - a term of respect for elder sister - is testing the waters by projecting 28-year-old Anand

On December 10, in Lucknow, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) national president Mayawati announced that her nephew, Akash Anand, will be her political successor. Some have since asked whether the 67-year-old icon of Dalit politics succumbed to the lure of dynastic succession, just as several other parties that profess to fight for social justice. Some others say the BSP’s electoral and ideological situation is more profound.

Mayawati’s politics, critics have said, transitioned from her mentor Kanshi Ram’s Bahujan assertion to espousing Sarvajan ideals, and hit ideological rock bottom by picking her Parivarjan, or family members, to lead it. Akash’s father, Anand