SBSP joining NDA will strengthen our fight for social justice: Sanjay Nishad

Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad opens up on whether or not he was feeling unnerved at the prospect of the SBSP’s joining ihe NDA n the most populous state that sends 80 LS MPs to the Parliament and is again crucial for the BJP’s 2024 plan.

Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting of NDA partners in Delhi on July 18. Ahead of the meeting, there is intense speculation going on if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would showcase more allies at the meet in addition to the existing ones

Sanjay Nishad (HT file)

The buzz is that along with Apna Dal (S), a party of Kurmis, a key non-Yadav OBC sub-caste of great influence, especially in east UP and Nishad Party, comprising OBC riverine community, the SBSP could well be the third OBC ally for the BJP in U.P.

Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad, a cabinet minister in Yogi 2.0, currently camping in Delhi ahead of the NDA meet, spoke to Manish Chandra Pandey on various issues, including whether or not he was feeling unnerved at the prospect of the SBSP’s joining in the most populous state that sends 80 LS MPs to the Parliament and is again crucial for the BJP’s 2024 plan.

You are currently taking out ‘Arakshan Mahasampark Abhiyan’ in U.P. to connect with your OBC community on the issue of being included in the Scheduled Castes. With less than a year left for the 2024 LS polls, what makes you take out this yatra?

: This demand to be included in the SC category is something we have been raising for long. I have met top BJP leaders and convinced them of the constitutional provisions that support our stand. An injustice done to us for long awaits correction and we are convinced that only under a BJP government will we get it. The issue has got traction only due to the BJP, but the opposition is trying to mislead the community.

So, you seem to indicate that the ‘Arakshan Mahayatra’ isn’t a tactic to pressurise the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, especially amid the growing buzz of Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party joining the NDA, a prospect that some feel unsettles you?

No, not at all. Why should it unsettle me? I will welcome ‘bhaiya’ (SBSP chief Om Prakash Rajbhar) and his climbing the NDA fold would strengthen he fight for social justice.

There is a view that you fear that with more OBC parties, your bargaining capacity would be compromised if OBC allies like SBSP joined the NDA?

Did the number of seats held by Apna Dal (S) (which has been a BJP ally well before we joined the NDA) reduce after our joining? If it didn’t happen then, then how can one say that SBSP’s joining would undermine our presence? We feel that our say will increase as we will be able to win more seats collectively. Then our fight for reservation too would get a boost.

So how many seats do you expect that the BJP would leave for you in 2024?

See, Anupriya ji’s party is an older ally but as we showed, our ability to get the votes transferred has been better than that of her party. So, we expect a better deal.

Apna Dal (S) won 2 seats in 2019 LS polls …

(interrupts) … See, all these seat sharing pacts aren’t decided in front of the media. They are decided in front of Union home minister Amit Shah ji. The rest is all immaterial.

Right, so should you get an opportunity to speak at the NDA meet, what would you say as both PM and union home minister Amit Shah would be there?

If we get a chance at that NDA meeting, we will put forth our views after thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, we are going to that meeting not to talk about seats but to talk about ‘jeet (win)’.

The buzz is that the SP’s trusted ally Rashtriya Lok Dal, an influential OBC player in west UP, has been approached as well?

See, just as the BJP has helped us in our fight for being included among the SCs, we hope that the RLD which claims support of farmers too would be part of the NDA. That’s because the BJP has done a lot for farmers and (for revival of) sugar mills.

Your son Pravin has now been a Lok Sabha MP twice, once on Samajwadi Party ticket and now on BJP ticket. Would this arrangement continue?

In 2019 LS polls, there was this SP-BSP pact. So tactically it made sense then.

But your party didn’t get any seat as part of the pact in 2019?

We were offered to choose from any of the eight seats that were left by that time. But we didn’t contest as our booth-level preparations weren’t in place on those seats then. We helped the BJP by ensuring transfer of Nishad community’s vote in over 30 seats.

What does your party’s internal survey tell you about your party’s chances in 2024?

The BJP does our survey too. It’s a mixed exercise.