The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
BSP ‘heir’ Akash Anand takes on BJP in campaign debut
At rally in Chandrashekhar Azad’s seat, says don’t be ‘misled’ by blue scarves
IN A stark departure from the approach of his aunt and BSP chief Mayawati, who has been going soft on the BJP, the party’s national coordinator Akash Anand in his first rally Saturday launched an attack on the Narendra Modi-led party and trained his guns at Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad. He mentioned the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Congress only once. Launching his Lok Sabha poll campaign from the Sc-reserved seat of Nagina, where the BSP has fielded Surendra Pal Singh, Akash, without taking Azad’s name, accused the leader of misleading youths in the name of agitations.
“This man calls himself a messiah. He says he will hit the streets for his community. He stages agitations with youths and fights. Youths get booked in cases and after that he runs away to another place. Youths will not get government jobs if they are booked in cases,” Akash said.
His remark comes in the backdrop of young followers of the party questioning him over not holding agitations on roads on various public issues.
“This man tried hard to get a seat as part of the INDIA bloc. They will come wearing a blue scarf and use the name of our party founder (Kanshiram) in their party name. But don’t be misled. They are equally as useless as the Congress, BJP, SP and RJD,” he said.
Azad, a Dalit leader, is getting the support of Dalit and Muslim youths during his campaign in Nagina, where he is contesting as the Lok Sabha candidate. His party is called the Aazad Samaj Party (Kanshiram).
In his first rally after Mayawati declared him successor in December, the party accorded Akash the same respect as they would to Mayawati, which included a single sofa covered with white towels in front of the stage. On stage, the posters had photographs of both Mayawati and Akash but not that of party candidate Singh, who was directed to be at the entrance of the compound to welcome the crowd.
Targeting the BJP, Akash said: “They made false promises first in Gujarat and later in the entire country...they (people) are taking free ration because you did not provide them employment. That free ration creates a burden of Rs 2 lakh crore on the taxpayers,” Akash said.
“BJP leaders feel proud when people call their government ‘bulldozer ki sarkar’,” he said, adding, “they don’t understand that the khitab (recognition) of bulldozer government is not something to be proud of but an embarrassment.”
Akash also said that under his leadership, the party will follow the rules decided by Mayawati “Behanji (Mayawati) has said that justice will be achieved by awareness of society and getting power through voting and not fighting on the streets.”