This Bollywood set designer may upset many political equations in Bihar in run-up to 2019 Lok Sabha polls

The JD(U) wants him. The BJP is not averse to him. And with Union minister Upendra Kushwaha-led Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) almost deciding to distance itself from the NDA, a party led by a new star on Bihar’s political horizon could come to the rescue of the alliance’s fortunes in the state.

Mukesh Sahni, who prefers to be called ‘son of Mallah’ (boatmen), is in all likelihood set to become the new Bihar partner for the NDA in the run-up to the 2019 parliamentary elections. Sahni recently floated the Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP) and is the national president of Nishaad Vikas Sangh, an organisation comprising the EBC community of Nishaads, who are fishermen by profession.

Currently, he is the leader most sought after by different political alliances. And like a seasoned politician, he is playing his caste card well. “People from the NDA and other alliances are in regular contact with us. Whoever offers the best deal, we will join them,” Sahni told this newspaper. “The bargain applies to NDA as well.”

Hailing from an extremely poor family, Sahni worked hard and left a strong footprint in Bollywood through event management and by designing sets for Hindi films. His set designs gained popularity through blockbusters such as Devdas and Bajrangi Bhaijaan.

Today, he owns a company called ‘Mukesh Cineworld Private Limited’ and has employed his relatives to manage it while he realises his political dreams. When relations between Nitish Kumr and Kushwaha began to turn sour, Sahni found the vacuum within the NDA to be the right fit for him.

Almost 14 % of Bihar’s population is Nishaad, while the Kushwahas are merely 6.4%. Sahni is well aware of the value of caste during elections and has, over the years, succeeded in emerging the undisputed Nishaad leader.

To build pressure, he has demanded reservations for the Nishaad community, warning that he and his party would upset poll equations, should the demand not be fulfilled.

“Our 14% per cent vote can break or make a government. We have a strong presence in North Bihar and can change the fortune of candidates in at least 15 Lok Sabha seats,” he claimed. “Whoever offers us a good deal will get our support,” he said.

Sahni’s Nishaad community can be broadly divided into Mallahs and Nonias, both of which are further divided into 23 sub-castes including Bind, Beldar, Chaiye, Tiyar, Khulwat, Surahiya, Godhi, Vanpar and Kewat.

Overall, the community plays a key role in many constituencies of the state. Its population varies between 8-17% in districts dominated by the Nishaads, such as Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Motihari, Begusarai, Madhubani, Saharsa, Supaul, Vaishali and Munger.

A top JD(U) leader accepted that his party is keen to have Sahni in the NDA fold, while a senior state BJP functionary said that the “BJP was not averse to him”. Sahni and his community had supported the NDA in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and the 35-year-old ‘son of Mallah’ is “still considered a star in the BJP”.

An NDA source said that Sahni may be offered two Lok Sabha seats, even though Sahni had demanded a greater share than that granted to the LJP, an NDA ally. Sahni also shown a tilt towards Nitish Kumar’s leadership, who, in a show of social engineering, built a strong support base among EBCs, soon after coming to power in 2005.

Kumar had backed Sahni’s demand to include the Nishaads under Scheduled Tribe category. In fact, the Kumar government in 2015 had made a recommendation to the Union tribal affairs ministry, which in return, sought an ethnography report from the state.