The recent killing of a trader from the Nishad community has heated up Uttar Pradesh politics in the run-up to the state Assembly elections slated for February 2027, with leaders from both the ruling NDA and the Opposition INDIA bloc joining protests to demand justice for the victim.
On Wednesday, 45-year-old Vinod Sahani was attacked by some assailants in Gonda over some social media posts. A day later, he succumbed to his injuries during treatment at King George’s Medical University (KGMU) in Lucknow.
The matter took on a caste colour as three of the accused who have been arrested belong to upper castes, as per police. Nishads are listed in the OBC (Other Backward Classes) category in UP.
It also snowballed into a political row as state Minister and Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad, an ally of the BJP-led NDA, led a protest against his own government, with the Opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) joining in to pitch for justice for Vinod.
The Minister held a sit-in at KGMU, along with the state SP’s OBC cell chief Rajpal Kashyap, a Nishad leader, and VIP Party chief Mukesh Sahni, who is an ally of the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan in neighbouring Bihar.
Sanjay Nishad said if the absconding accused do not surrender, then “encounter becomes necessary” and that “any unauthorised property they own must be bulldozed like in other cases”. He demanded that the Yogi Adityanath government also demonstrate the same “zero-tolerance” approach in this matter as in other criminal cases.
On Friday, the Minister also visited Gonda to protest outside the collectorate office. He took out a protest march from the Gonda circuit house to the collector’s office, carrying a placard stating: “Nishad samaj ek ho jao”. Slogans like “Vinod Sahani ke samman me, Nishad Party maidan me” were also raised during the march.
Political storm
When Vinod’s body was laid on the pyre for last rites at Gonda Friday, it was covered by the Nishad Party’s flag which also carried a photograph of the Minister, who was present there.
“Vinod Sahani had started his political career with the Nishad Party. Later, he switched to the SP. But recently he had attended a Nishad Party event in Lucknow. It was his family’s wish to cover his body with the Nishad Party flag,” said a party leader.
However, SP president Akhilesh Yadav said Vinod was associated with his party. He dispatched a team of party leaders to meet the victim’s family and attend his cremation.
Akhilesh alleged that Nishads will get only “vishaad” (mental grief) during the BJP rule. He also shared a letter on social media in which Vinod’s son purportedly sought his help to secure justice.
Local BJP leaders, too, posted messages on social media, expressing condolences for the deceased trader.
On Sanjay Nishad’s protest, the UP BJP’s OBC morcha president Prakash Pal told The Indian Express that the Minister held a dharna with a demand of justice for the victim’s family, but it was not against the government. “He was demanding justice for the victim’s family and the government will also want that family to get justice,” Pal said, ruling out the possibility of any adverse impact on the BJP in the upcoming elections.
When the Minister met the Gonda administration officials at the local circuit house, BJP district president Iqbal Bahadur Tiwari was also present there to “discuss relief measures for the victim’s family”. Tiwari told The Indian Express that a meeting of the victim’s kin will be arranged with Chief Minister Adityanath soon and that a request will be made for a government job for one of them.
Rajpal Kashyap told the Express: “The Vinod Sahani matter proves that the BJP inducts the leaders of backward, Dalit and minorities in the government only to get votes of their communities but never gives justice to them. When I started the dharna at the hospital, people from the Nishad community joined me, which forced Minister Sanjay Nishad and VIP leader Mukesh Sahani to join the dharna.”
Nishad factor in polls
The Nishad community comprises boatmen, fishermen, and net makers whose livelihoods are centred around rivers and water bodies.
While the OBCs make up over 40% of population in UP, Nishads are estimated to account for about one-fifth of the OBC votes in the state. In the Assembly elections, Nishads largely hold the key in the constituencies located along rivers including Ganga, Yamuna, Ghaghara, Ramganga, Rapti, Saryu, and Gomti, among others. Of the state’s 403 constituencies, Nishads are said to play a decisive role in over 50 seats.
“Nishad voters are in every Assembly constituency in UP and in some seats, they number over one lakh,” claimed Kashyap.
Before their current outreach to Nishads in the wake of Vinod’s killing, the BJP and the SP had taken various measures to woo the community in recent months.
In March this year, the BJP-led central government appointed ex-BJP MP Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, a Nishad leader from UP, as the chairperson of the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC).
Around the same time, the SP named Rukmani Devi Nishad, sister of bandit-turned-politician late Phoolan Devi, as chief of the party’s women wing in UP. Phoolan Devi, who was elected as an MP on the SP’s ticket from Mirzapur in 1996 and 1999, was assassinated in 2001.
On his part, Sanjay Nishad has also sought to reinforce his claim as the community’s key political face in UP by organising a Gurjar Kashyap Nishad Ekta Mahasammelan in Noida on April 5 and a Machhuara Sammelan in Gorakhpur on March 22. He has also continued to hold meetings with Nishads across the state.
In UP and Bihar, the community includes various sub-castes, including Mallahs, Binds, Manjhis, Kewats, Kashyaps, Turhas, Majhwas, Bathams, Beldars, Chaiye, and Tiyar, among others. They are classified as EBC (Extremely Backward Classes) in Bihar.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav said Vinod was associated with his party. He dispatched a team of party leaders to meet the victim's family and attend his cremation. 
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