SP, BSP have done precious little for the most backward: Sanjay Nishad

BJP provided respect to OBCs; Ram Rajya arrived when Nishadraj was added to the 'cabinet' of Lord Ram, says leader of the Nishad party

Self-anointed “Political Godfather of Fisherman” community, Sanjay Nishad is an MLC in Uttar Pradesh and the president of the Nirbal Indian Soshit Hamara Apna Dal (known as the Nishad Party) which claims to rally together the numerically-significant riverine most-backward communities. In 2018, the collaborated with the SP and BSP to in Lok Sabha by-polls. A year later, the party announced an alliance with the two parties but in just three days later Nishad dumped them and , also abandoning the “85 vs 15” (Bahujan vs Upper Castes) narrative to claiming that his caste icon Nishadraj and Lord Ram had a 'natural alliance.' After Om Prakash Rajbhar’s exit from the NDA and recent shift to the SP, Nishad has acquired significance as his ally BJP tries to preserve its backward caste support base in 2022 polls. Excerpts from an interview in Lucknow:

When there is an arrangement of hearts and where ideologies of two parties match, seats are a small matter. Let’s focus on the victory. This is the milan(coming together) of one sanskriti (culture), to bring back Ram Rajya and make India a sone ki chidiya (mythical golden bird) again.

160 (out of 403) seats are Nishad-dominated, where we have the responsibility to ensure NDA wins. On 70 seats, many of our opponents) will forfeit deposits.