UP polls: Yogi, HM Shah to attend ally Nishad's rally on Dec 17; quota announcement likely

Softening his stance on ally BJP, Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad declared that Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath will attend his party's rally in Lucknow on December 17. While BJP formally announced its tie-up with Nishad Party on September 24, the latter continued to pile on the pressure on the ruling dispensation to grant reservation to the Nishad community. For instance, Sanjay Nishad threatened to exit the alliance and made it clear that the people from his community will not cast their vote in the UP polls unless they are provided reservation.

Speaking exclusively to Republic TV, Sanjay Nishad remarked, "The rally on the 17th is historic. Because it is the first time in 70 years that people of the fishermen community will be rallying in Ramabai Ambedkar Park. The last rally happened on September 15, 2016, but no big leader had come. This time, Amit Shah himself is coming, Yogi Adityanath is coming."

Hinting that the BJP leadership might make a commitment to providing reservation to the Nishad community on December 17 itself, he added, "We want reservation that will stay. Let them take some time. The previous governments wanted that reservation should be enacted quickly so that the court will stay it. We don't want reservation in a dishonest way but in a constitutional manner."

Sanjay Nishad left out of Cabinet

Though the Nishad Party won UP CM Yogi Adityanath's pocket borough Gorakhpur in the 2018 Lok Sabha by-elections with the support of the Samajwadi Party, it stitched an alliance with BJP a year later. In the 2019 General Election, Sanjay Nishad's son Praveen Kumar Nishad contested on a BJP ticket and emerged victorious from the Sant Kabir Nagar constituency. In the last few months, Sanjay Nishad has held a series of meetings with the BJP central leadership ostensibly to discuss issues such as fishing rights, Patta allotment rights and reservation for the Nishad community. 

While he initially demanded the Deputy CM post for himself, Nishad downplayed his non-inclusion in the UP government after the Cabinet expansion that took place on September 26. Speaking to the media on September 27, the Nishad Party president said, "The Nishad Party has not been formed for MLC or Rajya Sabha. This party has been formed to raise the voice for the weak who don't have food, clothing and shelter for 70 years. BJP has given a platform to address this issue. I congratulate it".