{"id":16890,"date":"2026-08-26T14:03:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T14:03:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=16890"},"modified":"2026-08-26T14:03:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T14:03:51","slug":"beyond-ayodhya-and-the-fish-row-why-nishad-vote-matters-in-uttar-pradesh-2027-battle-india-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=16890","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Ayodhya and the fish row: Why Nishad vote matters in Uttar Pradesh 2027 battle | India News"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"Beyond<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The Nishad community finds itself at the centre of the fish row in Ayodhya ahead of 2027 Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

At a time when many Hindu devotees traditionally give up non-vegetarian food during ‘Sawan’, fish has acquired an unlikely political importance in Uttar Pradesh.The row began earlier this month with Uttar Pradesh minister and Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad’s remark that fish cooked without garlic and onion could be considered vegetarian. It escalated on August 23, when a video purportedly showing fish being prepared at a Nishad community event in Ayodhya, attended by UP Congress president Ajay Rai, surfaced on social media.But behind the sparring over what was – or was not – on Rai’s plate lies a larger electoral calculation. The Nishad vote has shifted political loyalties before, and with the BJP<\/a> seeking to retain its non-Yadav OBC coalition and the opposition trying to prise open that support, the community could once again become an important factor in the 2027 contest.<\/p>\n

The ‘fish on your plate’ row<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

The controversy began earlier this month when Sanjay Nishad said at a programme: “Bina lahsun-pyaz ki bani machhli shakahari hai.”The remark came during Sawan, a month when many Hindu devotees observe dietary restrictions, and quickly attracted attention because of the community he represents. Nishads have historically depended on rivers and water bodies for fishing, fish-rearing, boating and related livelihoods, making food and fishing practices part of a broader social and economic identity.Then came Ayodhya.On August 23, UP Congress president Ajay Rai travelled to Tarun, around 30 km from Ayodhya, after visiting Hanumangarhi, reciting the Hanuman Chalisa and offering prayers at the Ram temple. He attended a programme organised by members of the Nishad community. A video showing fish being prepared at the venue subsequently surfaced.<\/p>\n

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\"Sanjay<\/p>\n

Sanjay Nishad said fish preparation mattered. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The timing and location gave the BJP an opening.BJP state president Pankaj Chaudhary described the alleged fish feast as “highly condemnable and unforgivable”, while Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath accused Rai of “duplicity” for visiting a temple and then attending a fish feast during Sawan.“You saw the conduct of the Congress state president yesterday. He goes to Hanumangarhi for darshan and, after coming out, enjoys a fish feast and then shouts ‘Ram-Ram’,” Adityanath said.Rai denied eating fish and challenged the CM to produce evidence. “If he can produce any pictures, I will be ready to resign immediately,” he said.Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera defended the hosts, saying they belonged to the Nishad community and had their own traditions of eating and drinking.Later, cabinet minister Om Prakash Rajbhar entered the controversy, backing Nishad’s earlier claim and asking Congress to clarify whether the fish allegedly served at the event had been cooked with garlic and onion.“Sanjay Nishad machhli ke mahir hain, unhe zyada jaankari hai, hum thode kam hain,” Rajbhar said.The political argument, however, goes well beyond the menu at one event. The larger story is the political importance of the community that hosted it.<\/p>\n

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\"Ajay<\/p>\n

Ajay Rai dared CM Yogi Adityanath to provide evidence. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Nishads \u2014 the ‘jal kisans’<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

The Nishads are a cluster of riverine communities whose traditional livelihoods have been closely tied to rivers, ponds and other water bodies. Community organisations have increasingly used the term ‘jal kisan’, or water farmers, to describe this relationship.Fishing, fish-rearing, boating and the sale of fish have historically been central to these communities’ economic lives. Questions over access to water bodies, fishing rights, sand mining and regulation of traditional occupations therefore have a direct political resonance.The term Nishad is also used as an umbrella for several communities and sub-castes, including Mallah, Kewat, Bind, Kashyap, Dhimar, Batham, Kahar, Manjhi and Turaha. Not all of these communities necessarily identify themselves as Nishad in the same way.<\/p>\n

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\"Ram<\/p>\n

Organiser of the event defended the decision to keep fish in the menu. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In Uttar Pradesh, Nishads are classified among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).Political estimates put the core Nishad population at around 4.5-5 per cent of the state’s electorate. Estimates that include a wider set of related riverine communities put their combined share considerably higher.There is no recent official caste census providing a definitive figure, but the community’s electoral importance comes less from its statewide percentage than from its concentration.Nishad voters have a significant presence across the Ganga-Yamuna belt and eastern Uttar Pradesh, including Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Azamgarh, Ballia, Mau, Ghazipur, Mirzapur, Bhadohi, Jaunpur and Prayagraj, besides parts of Sultanpur and Fatehpur.The community is considered electorally influential in more than 160 Assembly constituencies, with around 80 seats often identified as having a particularly substantial Nishad presence.That geographical concentration explains why a community accounting for a relatively small share of the state’s electorate can command such political attention.<\/p>\n

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\"Caste<\/p>\n

Estimated data based on reports. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Nishadraj and Ekalavya: The epic roots of identity<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

The Nishad political identity is also deeply connected to stories from the Hindu epics.In the Ramayana, Nishadraj Guha, the boatman-king, is described as an ally of Ram during his exile. Guha receives Ram, Sita and Lakshman and helps them cross the Ganga.<\/p>\n

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\"Shringverpur<\/p>\n

The 51-foot-high statue of Lord Ram and Nishadraj at Shringverpur Dham, 40 km from Prayagraj. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

For the Nishad community, the story has long been invoked as a marker of their place within the Ram narrative \u2014 not as an identity created by contemporary politics, but as an older cultural association that acquired renewed political meaning during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.The community also invokes Ekalavya from the Mahabharata, who is traditionally identified as belonging to the Nishad community. His story – of a skilled archer seeking to learn from Dronacharya and ultimately giving his thumb as guru dakshina – has come to represent a different strand of Nishad memory: talent, exclusion and the struggle for recognition.The two figures capture contrasting elements of the community’s epic imagination: Nishadraj represents proximity to and loyalty towards Ram, while Ekalavya represents ability denied recognition.These narratives have subsequently been woven into the community’s assertion of a distinct historical and social identity.<\/p>\n

The Ram Janmabhoomi movement<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Sections of the community found their cultural resonance in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.As the campaign for a Ram temple in Ayodhya gathered momentum in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Nishad organisations and leaders participated in the wider mobilisation. The story of Nishadraj Guha gave the movement an immediate cultural connection for sections of the community, while the broader call for ‘Ram Rajya’ resonated with those who saw the temple campaign as a civilisational and cultural cause.The political landscape changed sharply after BJP leader LK Advani’s Ram Rath Yatra in 1990, which transformed the temple issue into a mass political movement. The demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992, further entrenched Ayodhya as a defining issue in BJP politics.<\/p>\n

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\"Caste-wise<\/p>\n

Source: Centre for Study of Developing Societies Lokniti. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

As the BJP expanded its support among non-Yadav OBC communities, sections of the Nishad community also moved towards the party.But that support did not become a permanent political contract.<\/p>\n

From support to sense of being left behind<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Among sections of Nishad political opinion, a recurring grievance emerged: the community had supported the Ram movement but did not receive a commensurate political return.The complaint has, at various points, extended to BJP leaders associated with the Ram movement, including Advani and former UP CM Kalyan Singh, with Nishad voices arguing that their support for the Ram cause did not translate into adequate representation or resolution of longstanding demands regarding representation and farming on the riverside.In the coming years, the same community that participated in the Ram movement subsequently moved towards the Samajwadi Party, created its own political organisation and entered into an alliance with the BJP.That fluidity became particularly visible in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

Phoolan Devi and politics of representation<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Before the emergence of the Nishad Party, the strongest political association for sections of the community came through the social-justice politics of the Samajwadi Party.Phoolan Devi became the most recognisable symbol of that phase.A Mallah woman from Uttar Pradesh, Phoolan Devi contested the Mirzapur Lok Sabha seat on an SP ticket in 1996 and won. She retained the seat in 1999.<\/p>\n

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\"Phoolan<\/p>\n

SP has given key post to Phoolan Devi’s sister ahead of 2027 polls.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Her rise gave the community an unusually prominent political figure and turned caste identity into a language of representation.Her political legacy continues to be invoked in Uttar Pradesh.<\/p>\n

Nishad Party enters equation<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

The next major shift came in 2016, when Sanjay Nishad founded the Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal, popularly known as the Nishad Party.The party sought to consolidate riverine communities and give political expression to demands involving reservation, representation, fishing rights and livelihoods.Its first major electoral breakthrough came in an unlikely place.In the March 2018 Gorakhpur Lok Sabha bypoll, Praveen Nishad, Sanjay Nishad’s son, contested as an SP-backed candidate and defeated the BJP.The result was politically significant because Gorakhpur had been Yogi Adityanath’s parliamentary stronghold for five consecutive terms.The defeat demonstrated that the BJP’s support among non-Yadav OBC communities could be disrupted when Nishad mobilisation combined with the SP’s wider social coalition.But the equation soon changed again.Before the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Nishad Party moved into the BJP-led NDA. Praveen Nishad joined the BJP and contested the Sant Kabir Nagar Lok Sabha seat on a BJP ticket, winning the election.The BJP-Nishad Party alliance became an important part of the BJP’s strategy to consolidate non-Yadav OBC support in eastern Uttar Pradesh.<\/p>\n

2019 and 2022: Alliance and the unfinished bargain<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

The BJP and Nishad Party continued their alliance into the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly election.The BJP won 255 seats, while the Nishad Party won six. The NDA retained power with 273 seats in the 403-member assembly.For the BJP, the alliance helped reinforce its eastern Uttar Pradesh coalition.For Sanjay Nishad, however, being part of the government brought a different problem: once an ally enters government, its demands are increasingly judged against what it can actually secure from that government.The biggest unresolved issue remained the demand for Scheduled Caste status for sections of the Nishad community.Sanjay Nishad has repeatedly pressed the BJP government on the demand.On August 18, 2026, just months before the 2027 elections, he escalated the issue again, saying he was prepared to give up his ministerial position if necessary.His friction with the BJP had also become visible after the 2024 Lok Sabha election, when he blamed BJP leaders for his son Praveen Nishad’s defeat in Sant Kabir Nagar.Praveen, who contested the seat on a BJP ticket, lost to the Samajwadi Party’s Laxmikant Pappu Nishad.The result was another reminder that a BJP-Nishad Party alliance does not necessarily translate into a uniform Nishad vote.<\/p>\n

SP and Congress try to prise open BJP’s base<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

That fluidity is what the opposition is trying to exploit ahead of 2027.In March 2026, it appointed Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti as chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh Backward Classes Commission. The move came alongside the BJP’s continuing alliance with the Nishad Party.The SP responded by appointing Phoolan Devi’s sister, 67-year-old Rukmini Devi, as president of the party’s Uttar Pradesh women’s wing. The appointment was seen as part of Akhilesh Yadav’s PDA \u2014 Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak \u2014 outreach ahead of the 2027 election.Rukmini Devi subsequently attacked Sanjay Nishad, questioning what he had delivered for the community while being part of the government.The appointments show that the competition for the Nishad vote is not merely about alliances. It is a contest over who represents the community’s political memory.Congress, on the other hand, has a more difficult task because its organisational presence among Nishads is weaker.Its August outreach in Tarun was therefore significant. Ajay Rai’s visit to the Nishad community programme was an attempt to establish a direct connection with the community.The party’s subsequent defence of the event, that the hosts were Nishads with their own food traditions, also allowed Congress to frame the controversy around community identity and traditional livelihoods rather than solely religious conduct.For the SP and Congress, the broader argument is that the Nishad vote is not synonymous with the Nishad Party.<\/p>\n

The VIP factor<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

The Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), led by Bihar-based Nishad leader Mukesh Sahani, adds another layer to this contest.VIP entered Uttar Pradesh politics in the 2022 assembly election, seeking support among Nishads and other Extremely Backward Classes, particularly in Purvanchal.The party did not emerge as a major electoral force, but its campaign showed how smaller caste-based parties can complicate a close contest.VIP contested more than 100 seats, primarily in eastern Uttar Pradesh, and said its candidates polled more votes than Congress candidates in 15 constituencies, including Bairia, Bansdih, Phephna, Alapur, Jalalpur, Ghanghata, Balha, Shahganj and Kerakat.Its relationship with the BJP has been politically fluid rather than a straightforward alliance in Uttar Pradesh.Sahani has been a vocal critic of the BJP at various points. However, in neighbouring Bihar where the Nishads remain relevant across the seats in the Ganga area, his political trajectory has repeatedly shifted. VIP contested as part of the opposition Mahagathbandhan in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, switched to the NDA for the 2020 Bihar assembly election (winning 4 seats and entering the cabinet), but was dropped from the NDA in 2022 after contesting against the BJP in UP. In last year’s Bihar polls, his party failed to secure any seat.However, in upcoming polls in UP, a few thousand votes in its favour can alter the results in close constituencies.<\/p>\n

The 2027 question<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

The fish controversy may fade, but the political question it has exposed is unlikely to disappear.The BJP has the advantage of a long association with the Ram movement, an established organisational network and an alliance with the Nishad Party.<\/p>\n

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Share your thoughts in the comments<\/p>\n<\/div>\n