Mayawati Defends Her Brother And It Doesn't Cut Ice
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
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By Sunil Garodia
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
The
response of BSP supremo Mayawati after the Income Tax department attached seven
acres of prime land near Noida allegedly owned by her brother Anand Kumar is
deplorable, to say the least. Mayawati said that the BJP and its ideological
mentor the RSS did not want the progress of the deprived sections and use power
and government machinery against them. She also questioned the source of over
Rs 2000 crore which she claimed the BJP got in its bank accounts before the
elections, hinting that if the seized plot was benami, so were the funds. But
never once did she say anything about the illegality of her brotherâs action in
holding a benami property.
Mayawati
should know that two wrongs do not make a right. If the BJP got the funds which
she alleges to be benami (in reality these were got through the Electoral Bonds
which are also an opaque but legal way of funding, but that is another issue)
does that make it proper for her brother to acquire benami property? If
Mayawati is so piqued by the BJP getting the funds, she should have approached
the Election commission or the courts to have the bank accounts frozen after
showing evidence. But using that to defend her brother is stupid.
There have
always been rumours about the BSP and Mayawatiâs hangers-on and relatives
making a lot of money. The source of the enormous funds a small regional party
like the BSP is able to collect year after year always remains a mystery. If
her brother is able to acquire a Rs 400 crore plot, it is clear that it has
been done with ill-gotten wealth. Her brother is not a hot-shot businessman.
He is also not a film star changing Rs 50 crore per film to have so much money.
In reality, he is a wheeler and dealer who has connections with builders and
industrialists and helps them in various ways through a maze of shell companies
for which he is obviously paid well. So Mayawati cannot fool people by making
wild allegations against others. She says the BJP is suppressing the voice of
the deprived classes. The fact is that the Dalits and other backward classes are
dumbstruck that someone who professes to be their leader and well-wisher is
rolling in so much money while they do not get two square meals a day.
