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New Delhi: The question of providing Scheduled Caste (SC) status to the Nishad and other riverine communities currently classified as Other Backward Classes (OBCs) has shadowed Uttar Pradesh’s politics for the last two decades.

As the crucial 2027 Assembly election approaches, the unresolved issue threatens to strain the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) alliance with the Nishad Party while also raising doubts about the saffron party’s commitment to fulfilling an implicit promise made to the Nishads.

On August 16, Nishad Party chief Sanjay Nishad issued yet another warning to his ally: deliver on the reservation demand or risk losing the community’s votes. Amid slogans of “Hum Leke Rahenge Arakshan (We will ensure that we get reservation)” from his supporters, Nishad, while addressing the party’s 11th foundation day, appealed to BJP minister Dayashankar Singh – the chief guest at the event – to take up the matter with the BJP leadership. Nishad warned that the ruling party could lose power next year if it failed to pay heed to the demand. ‘Act before it is too late’ was Nishad’s ultimatum to his ally.

Why Sanjay Nishad’s warning is significant

The warning is significant not because it is new, but because it comes with barely six months left before the election – and because the legal and constitutional route to granting SC status lies largely beyond the control of the Uttar Pradesh government. This also puts the BJP in a politically uncomfortable position, evoking Union home minister Amit Shah’s address at a rally in Lucknow hosted by the Nishad Party in December 2021, just eight weeks before voting in 2022.

The supporters of the party, mobilised by Sanjay Nishad, expected Shah to make an official announcement regarding their longstanding demand. In his speech, Shah recounted the work done by the government for the community and promised to “fulfill all the agendas” of the Nishad Party if voted back to power. However, he made no mention of reservation.

Disappointed and agitated, Nishad Party supporters, who had gathered from various corners of Eastern UP, broke chairs at the venue in protest. Troubled by the scene, the chief minister Adityanath-led state government wrote to the Registrar General of India and the Census Commissioner of India a few days later, seeking guidance on granting the community SC status.

In March 2022, the BJP won the state with another handsome, albeit reduced, majority. The Nishad Party managed to win six seats, and its chief, Sanjay Nishad, was rewarded with a cabinet berth heading the fisheries department. The question of Machhua or Nishad reservation was subsequently put into cold storage, barring the occasional public meeting, letter, or media statement by Sanjay Nishad. Almost five years after Shah’s assurance, the NDA’s promise remains unfulfilled.

Nishad’s warning can be read in two ways. It may be an attempt to placate an increasingly impatient support base and recover his political credibility. It may at the same time also be a bargaining tactic aimed at extracting a better deal for his party in seat distribution from the BJP ahead of the 2027 election. Either way, the responsibility ultimately falls on the BJP and its ‘double-engine’ governments.

The cautious silence from the ruling party, particularly in response to Nishad’s latest threat, shows that the subject remains a political hot potato. While it cannot ignore the Nishads, it is also unable to guarantee them what they want. Nishad is a cabinet minister in the Adityanath government, and his party is a crucial ally with loyal pockets of influence across Eastern UP, especially in the Gorakhpur division where it is based.

The larger East UP is also the region where the Samajwadi Party-led Opposition has done particularly well in the last two elections (2022 and 2024).

The Nishad reservation question in UP

The Nishad reservation question in UP is tied to the broader demand involving 17 OBC communities – politically categorised among the Most Backward Castes or MBCs: Kashyap, Kewat, Mallah, Nishad, Kahar, Kumhar, Prajapati, Dheevar, Bind, Dheemar, Batham, Turha, Godiya, Manjhi, Machhua, Bhar, and Rajbhar.

Thirteen of these are riverine communities traditionally and historically engaged in fishing, boating, sand mining, and allied aquatic activities. They are found across the state.

Bandit-turned-politician Phoolan Devi and Nishadraj – the mythical boatman who ferried Lord Ram across the Ganges in the Ramayana – are among their most prominent socio-political and cultural icons. While Phoolan Devi symbolises backward-caste resistance against dominant caste violence, Nishadraj represents the bond between the Nishad caste, the Hindu faith, and, more recently, Hindutva politics.  On the other hand, proponents of Mandal and Bahujan politics often invoke the story of Eklavya – the master archer who sacrificed his thumb for Dronacharya so he would not surpass Arjuna – to argue that marginalised castes have historically been denied equal access to education and opportunity.

The remaining four communities among the 17 castes fall into two distinct groups. First are the Bhar and Rajbhar, represented politically by the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) of Om Prakash Rajbhar, another BJP ally. However, Rajbhar has primarily focused his efforts on demanding the........

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