Bihar: Mukesh Sahni ‘Unruffled’ After 3 MLAs Join BJP, Vows to Fight for Nishad Quota

Patna: A day after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) allegedly engineered a split of ally Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP), its chief Mukesh Sahni, who is also a Bihar minister, accused the saffron party of cheating its allies and vowed to continue his fight for the rights of the poor and most backward, including reservation for his caste -- nishad. Sahni made it clear that BJP was unhappy and angry after he demanded reservation in SC or ST category for nishads and supported demand for a caste census.

Sahni said he would expose the “double face” of BJP before the people, mainly the poor and extremely backward castes.

“I am son of a mallah (the community comprises boatmen and fishermen), I will not bow before anyone and will continue to fight for the rights of my community. I have not made any mistake or done any wrong by demanding reservation for nishads”, Sahni said here on Thursday.

In a silent political drama “managed” by BJP, all three VIP MLAs joined the saffron party on Wednesday night and handed over a letter of support to Bihar Assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha in this connection. This is widely being seen as a big jolt to Sahni’s VIP, which is left without any MLA. Sahni’s own term as Member of Legislative Council (MLC) is set to end in July this year.

Left with no option other than to fight it out, Sahni said his future course of politics would focus on raising the issue of reservation to expand his support base among his caste -- nishad and sahni  -- which has a sizeable population in Bihar, mainly in flood- prone Mithilanchal, Koshi and Seemanchal regions.

“I will fight for them till my last breath. I am not spineless like others to follow the dictat of others. I was aware of the outcome after I raised the demand for nishad reservation, as I knew they would target and weaken me, but they have forgotten that I am not afraid of anyone or anything,” he said.

Sahni said had he accepted BJP’s terms to not raise the issue of reservation and a caste census and bowed down, then his party would not have split on Wednesday.

Referring to his decision in 2020 to join hands with BJP to contest the Bihar Assembly polls , Sahni warned the saffron party leaders that if he were to disclose what his deal wasa during the time of alliance with BJP in presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, it will be “shocking and not good for the country”.

The outspoken Sahni said his party would not hesitate to join hands with like-minded parties to fight against BJP in Bihar in the coming days, as it fought against it in recently concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.

The VIP leader also made it clear that it was the prerogative of the Chief Minister to sack or remove him from his cabinet. “I will not resign and will continue to work for the welfare and empowerment of the poor and marginalised. It it is for the CM to decide, I will abide by his orders”, he added.

Sahni hit out at BJP leaders for demanding his resignation. “What moral ground are they talking about? The BJP, which has become the single largest party by snatching MLAs of other parties, has no right to demand my resignation," he said.

In 2020, Sahni’s VIP for the first time won four seats, including Bochaha, in the Bihar Assembly elections, as part of the National Democratic Alliance. Interestingly, Sahni , who contested but lost, was made a minister and elected Member of Legislative Council (MLC) in a bypoll.

The Bochaha seat fell vacant last year after VIP MLA Musafir Paswan died. It is due for a bypoll on April 12. The BJP has fielded its own candidate, which was opposed by Sahni, who has fielded a VIP candidate.

A political watcher here said that Sahni's relations with BJP began souring last year after he repeatedly targeted it, embarrassing the saffron party time and again. BJP had been waiting for the right time to teach Sahni a lesson and finally hit the party that resulted in a split.

‘BJP took revenge against Sahni for ignoring its request not to contest Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls. Sahni went ahead and fielded VIP candidates from 55 seats in polls against BJP, which antagonised party leaders. What angered BJP was that Sahni appealed to people not to vote for BJP in advertisements in local newspapers of Uttar Pradesh,” said a political observer.

Another political watcher recalled that Sahni was not in the good books of BJP since last year. He was stopped at Varanasi airport by the Uttar Pradesh police ahead of his programme to unveil the statues of former Member of Parliament, late Phoolan Devi. After he was disallowed to do so, it upset him. Sahni’s move was part of his protest against “humiliation” by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. He had accused Yogi of being against the installation of statues of Phoolan Devi, who is regarded as an “icon” of the backward community of nishads, to which Saini belongs.

However, the split in VIP has helped BJP fulfil its long-awaited dream by becoming the single largest party in the Assembly with all three VIP MLAs joining it. Till March 23, BJP was the largest party in the ruling coalition, with 74 MLAs. After the three VIP MLAs defected, the BJP has become the single largest party with 77 MLAs in the 243-member House. BJP’s major ally, chief minister Nitish’ Kumar’s Janata Dal-United has only 45 MLAs, and is the third largest party in the Assembly. Before the last Assembly elections, Nitish Kumar’s JD-U used to have more MLAs than BJP.

After BJP emerged as the big brother, the saffron party leaders have been behaving differently and Nitish Kumar is being forced to play second fiddle.

In the 2020 Bihar Assembly polls, the Rashtriya Janata Dal emerged as the single largest party with 75 MLAs, and now it has been pushed to the second place, as BJP has snatched the first place. This has also ended the hope of RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, the youngest son of ailing Lalu Prasad, to topple the NDA government with support from VIP and another small ally, Hindustan Awam Morcha of former CM Jitan Ram Manjhi.