Sanjay Nishad

Sanjay Nishad was born to a Nishad family on 7 June 1965 in Chaumukha, Gorakhpur. He completed a course in Electrohomeopathy. He initiated a struggle to get this course recognised as a medical discipline. He founded the Purvanchal Medical Electro Homeopathy Association in 2002 and became its president.[5] Before forming the NISHAD Party, he ran a clinic at Geeta Vatika Road, Gorakhpur for a decade.[6][7][8]

Nishad has been active in politics for two decades. He started his career by joining BAMCEF, and contested the Caimpiyarganj, but lost. After this, he became active in his Tribe Politics, where he formed two organisations; All India Backward and Minority Welfare Mission and Shakti Mukti Mahasangram in 2008. Before forming NISHAD Party, he had formed the Rashtriya Nishad Ekta Parishad and as its national president, he tried to unite the different sub-castes of Nishads.

He first came into the limelight when he blocked a railway track on 7 June 2015 near the village of Kasrawal in the Sahjanwa area adjoining Gorakhpur, demanding the inclusion of Nishads into Scheduled Castes. There were hundreds of people from the Nishad community with him, a large number of them being youths. Apart from Purvanchal, the youths were also from western Uttar Pradesh. Violent clashes broke out when the police tried to remove them. A youth named Akhilesh Nishad was killed in police firing. The mob ransacked several vehicles and set them on fire. At that time, the then Samajwadi Party government under Akhilesh Yadav took strict action against this incident and filed a case against three dozen people including Sanjay Nishad. Dr. Sanjay went underground but others were arrested and jailed. He later surrendered and was released on bail. This incident got him a lot of discussion. He used this fame to strengthen the Nishad Party. Formed the organization of the Nishad Party.

The NISHAD Party first contested 100 Seats during 2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election election in alliance with Peace Party of India, the Apna Dal, and the Jan Adhikar Party. In the election swept by the BJP, the NISHAD Party won only the Gyanpur constituency. Nishad contested from Gorakhpur Gramin, but he only came in third, receiving 35,000 votes.

In the 2019 Indian general elections, his party joined the NDA and formed an alliance with the BJP.

In 2021, Nishad won the election for the Legislative Council and became a member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council. After the victory of NDA in 2022 UP Elections, he became a Cabinet Minister in the Second Yogi Adityanath ministry, and took the oath on 25 March 2022.[9][10][11][12][13]

On 29 April 2022, Sanjay Nishad gave a controversial statement to the media where he claimed that a person who does not love Hindi is "a foreigner or linked to foreign powers" and that "Hindustan is not a place for those who don’t speak Hindi. They should leave this country and go somewhere else.”[14]