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Rift in Nishad community widens ahead of Lok Sabha election
Former minister Jay Prakash Nishad of the BJP organised 15 national conferences of Adivasi, Kashyap, Khar, Nishad Samaj at Baba Gambhir Auditorium on Saturday.
With two separate megaevents organised by two groups of strong contenders in the Nishad community vote—former minister Jay Prakash Nishad and cabinet minister for fisheries Dr Sanjay Nishad—at the same time on Saturday has widened the rift in the community. As the programmes turned into a display of strength before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, both leaders leveled charges against each other for misleading the community.
While former minister Jay Prakash Nishad of the BJP organised 15 national conferences of Adivasi, Kashyap, Khar, Nishad Samaj at Baba Gambhir Auditorium on Saturday. Member of Parliament Ajay Nishad, former MP Ganga Charan Rajpoot, former justice Chandra Lal Meshram and Member of Legislative Council Suresh Kashyap attended the conference and demanded Nishad community reservation after providing them SC status.
At the same time, Dr Sanjay Nishad, cabinet minister in the Yogi Adityanath Government, organised a program at the Bank of River Rapti for seeding baby fish in rivers and claimed fish seeding in each river had started to increase the income of Nishad Samaj and that the Nishad Raj Matasya scheme was providing job opportunities to Nishad community youths.
Two programs at the same time by two heavyweight champions of the community are being considered a show of strength as Gorakhpur has emerged as the center of Nishad community politics.
Notably, the Nishad Samaj has a sizable chunk of votes in Gorakhpur and Basti Division. The Nishad Party has 11 members of the assembly in the UP Legislative Assembly and a Member of Parliament.
Party chief Dr Sanjay Nishad confirmed that with rising aspirations of party workers, the Nishad party has staked its claim on a few MP seats where the party’s vote bank is in a deciding position.
