Lucknow: Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, it’s “Nishad versus Nishad” in eastern Uttar Pradesh (UP) and the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as two leaders of the community — which comprises fishermen and other castes engaged in river-related occupations — battle it out.
On the one hand, Sanjay Nishad, fisheries minister in the BJP-led UP government and president of BJP alliance partner Nishad Party, has suggested that he is the rightful claimant of support from the Nishads.
On the other, BJP leader and former Rajya Sabha member Jai Prakash Nishad has planned a “Nishad mahakumbh” in Gorakhpur Monday to mobilise the community to ensure its “educational, economic and political participation” in the government and to send a message that it “will now not get misled by anyone”.
Both leaders have been indirectly taking potshots at each other, and their supporters were reported to have had a face-off at Jai Prakash Nishad’s press conference in Gorakhpur Friday.
The BJP, meanwhile, has distanced itself from the “Nishad mahakumbh”, stating that it was not an event of the party, even as an insider told ThePrint that the event had the party’s tacit support.
Asked about the face-off between Jai Prakash Nishad and Sanjay Nishad, UP BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said: “In every community, there are different leaders who try to assert themselves and establish their influence. If a verbal duel happens between two leaders, it doesn’t affect the party or its relations with coalition partners.”
The Nishad community comprises 22 sub-castes, and is a collectively dominant force on the banks of the Ganga and Yamuna. It forms 14 per cent of UP’s population, and is spread out in Purvanchal with influence in over 70 constituencies.
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‘Asteen ka saanp’
In an interaction with ThePrint Saturday, Sanjay Nishad, without taking names, referred to an “aasteen ke saanp (backstabber) who is very dangerous for the community”, was “being operated by remote control”, and was like “Vibhishana” (the younger brother of Ravana in the epic Ramayana, who symbolises someone who betrays his own family).
Asked about Jai Prakash Nishad’s ‘mahakumbh’, the minister said that when the former had a chance to advocate for the Nishad community (while being a Rajya Sabha member), he didn’t do so.
Sanjay Nishad had last week made headlines for writing a letter to the Nishad community with his blood, and later stated to the media his long-standing demand to the government for Scheduled Caste (SC) status for the Nishads.
While some media reports had quoted him as saying that the public will decide whether the Nishad Party should ally with the BJP for the 2024 elections, Sanjay Nishad told ThePrint that he had said the public will decide whether it will support him or the “Vibhishana” of the community.
Sanjay Nishad is preparing to organise a congregation of the Nishad community on 31 August under the banner of his annual ‘Vibhuti Janjati Sammelan’.
On Friday, he met BJP national president J.P. Nadda to discuss issues related to reservation for the Nishad community and appointment of Nishad Party workers in various posts.
“I informed (Nadda) that their (BJP) government is there in Uttarakhand and has given reservation to the Shilpkar (sculptor) community. They are being treated not as a caste but as a group of castes, and a list of castes has been created including Kumhars, Prajapatis and Kamkars. They are sub-castes of the Shilpkar community,” he told ThePrint.
“I told him the same should happen in UP, such that the Majhwar is not treated as a caste but as a group of castes including the Kewat and Mallah,” he said, adding that further discussion will happen on the subject with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The Nishad community’s demand for inclusion in the SC list is an old one. The erstwhile SP government in Uttar Pradesh had in December 2016 cleared a proposal to include 17 community sub-castes, including Kewat and Mallah, in the list of SCs. However, the move was stayed by the Allahabad High Court.
In December 2021, the Yogi Adityanath government wrote to the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India — with a memorandum by Sanjay Nishad attached, seeking guidance over the matter of reservation to the community under the SC category.
Talking about the alleged face-off between his Jai Prakash’s supporters last week, Sanjay said the latter was uneasy because of the induction of several members of the Nishad community into the newly-constituted executive committee of Nishad Party.
He also hinted that Jai Prakash was being controlled by the Opposition with a remote control, questioning the source of funds for the ‘mahakumbh”.
“Vibhishana is saying that aarakshan nahin toh vote nahin (no votes from Nishad community without reservation). But where will the votes go if not to the (BJP-led) NDA? It will go to hathi (symbol of Bahujan Samaj Party) or the cycle (symbol of Samajwadi Party),” he added.
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‘All the Nishads are angry’
Speaking to the media Friday, Jai Prakash criticised “those trying to project themselves as a masiha (saviour) of the Nishad community”.
Such people, he said, misled the community, adding that “people troubled by the masiha of the community will participate in the mahakumbh”.
“Those who tried to become a masiha, they looted the money meant for the family of Akhilesh Nishad who lost his life in the Kasarwal Andolan,” he said.
The Kasarwal Andolan of June 2015 was an agitation by the Nishad community for reservation in government jobs, which turned violent when the police tried to forcefully remove protesters from the Gorakhpur-Lucknow railway line. Akhilesh Nishad allegedly died in the firing that ensued.
Jai Prakash Nishad added that “38 people continue to be in jail in connection with the Kasarwal Andolan, and their families are hand-to-mouth and nobody is there to help them”.
“Akhilesh Nishad was shot at in the violence. Aid meant for his family was diverted and today, nobody talks to the family, which lost their only son. Nobody attended his sisters’ weddings,” he said, adding that the “community is devising the right way to communicate with the government”.
“All the Nishads of purvanchal (east UP) are angry and hence a mahakumbh is being organised. No one will be our masiha now and we will take the matter into our own hands,” he declared.
An insider from the BJP indicated to ThePrint Saturday that the “mahakumbh” had tacit approval from the BJP, which wanted to “balance Sanjay Nishad and his bargaining powers ahead of the Lok Sabha polls”.
“Sanjay Nishad wants some Lok Sabha seats from the BJP ahead of the 2024 polls, which is why he is flexing his muscles and making statements in the media. However, there are other Nishad leaders in the BJP,” a party leader from eastern UP said.
Asked whether the ‘mahakumbh’ had the BJP’s backing, Jai Prakash said “the event was neither of any party nor any outfit but only of the Nishad community”.
“One family has hijacked the rights of the community due to which the community’s development has stopped,” he said.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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