Nishad said the BJP had failed to adequately engage with concerns raised by the Nishad community during the 2024 Lok Sabha election and had suffered electoral setbacks as a result. He contrasted that with the 2022 Uttar Pradesh Assembly election, when he said the BJP had given greater attention to the community’s concerns and returned to power.
“When the Samajwadi Party closed its doors to me, I joined the BJP. If the BJP does the same, we will have to consider other options,” Nishad said on Tuesday. He added that his party would support whichever political formation took the community’s demands seriously and worked towards resolving them.
The BJP won 33 of Uttar Pradesh’s 80 Lok Sabha seats in 2024, compared with 62 in 2019, while the Samajwadi Party emerged with 37 seats. That reversal has made coalition arithmetic and outreach to non-Yadav Other Backward Class communities a central part of preparations for the next state contest, although seat-sharing negotiations have yet to be finalised.
The remarks have sharpened attention on negotiations within the BJP-led alliance before the 2027 state election, particularly over seat-sharing and the political representation of Nishad and other riverine communities. The Nishad Party contested 16 Assembly constituencies in 2022 and is seeking a larger allocation next year, especially in seats where the BJP has struggled.
Nishad said his party was prepared to help the BJP regain constituencies it had lost and argued that the alliance had benefited from the support of his organisation. His comments, however, made clear that continued cooperation would depend on political accommodation and movement on demands that the party says remain unresolved.
The statement followed Nishad’s meeting with senior Samajwadi Party leader and Uttar Pradesh Leader of the Opposition Mata Prasad Pandey, which prompted speculation about the Nishad Party’s future alignment. Nishad sought to play down the political significance of the meeting, describing Pandey as an old associate and mentor whom he had visited because he was unwell.
Nishad said their conversation also touched on the killing of Gonda trader Vinod Sahani, a member of the Nishad community whose death has become a political issue in the state. Nishad had joined protests demanding action in the case, while Samajwadi Party leaders also participated in demonstrations and sought accountability.
Police have arrested suspects in connection with Sahani’s death and suspended personnel for alleged lapses. Authorities have said the investigation remains under way. The episode has added to political mobilisation around the Nishad community months before the Assembly election.
The Nishad Party has repeatedly pressed for changes in the classification of several Nishad subgroups that are currently listed among Other Backward Classes. Party leaders have sought their inclusion in the Scheduled Caste category, an issue Sanjay Nishad has raised during the alliance with the BJP.
The demand remains politically sensitive because any alteration in reservation status requires legal and administrative processes beyond a simple state-level announcement. Nishad has nevertheless argued that the issue is central to his party’s support base and should be addressed as part of the alliance’s broader political understanding.
The Nishad community includes several groups traditionally associated with fishing, boating, fish-rearing and other river-based occupations. Its members have a significant presence across eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of the state’s central belt, making the community an important constituency for both the ruling alliance and the opposition.
The Nishad Party joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance before the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Sanjay Nishad later became a minister in Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s government, while his son Praveen Nishad won the Sant Kabir Nagar Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket in 2019.
