Long battle ahead but won’t bow down, says VIP chief Mukesh Sahani

Days ahead of bypoll for the Bochaha Assembly seat, 3 MLAs from his party had joined the BJP

A day after all his party’s (Vikashil Insaan Party) three MLAs joined the BJP, Mukesh Sahani who was a Bollywood set designer before plunging into politics, on Thursday repeated the popular dialogue from a recent film Pushpa, “ Jhukega nahi (will not be cowed down)”.

He also added that he would not resign as a Minister from the NDA government in Bihar led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar but, gave hints about his future political course by praising Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.

“ Son of mallahJhukega nahi…kandha se kandha mila kar chalenge. Tin gaye hain, tis jitenge (Son of mallah will not be cowed down but will walk on shoulder to shoulder. Three (MLAs) have gone, thirty will win)”, Mr. Sahani who is popularly known as “Son of mallah (fishermen community)”, told presspersons on Thursday.

‘Son of Mallah’

A native of Darbhanga district in Bihar, Mr. Sahani had left for Mumbai at the age of 19 and worked there first as a salesman in a cosmetic shop but, later, he became a Bollywood set designer. He shot to limelight after designing the set for a popular Bollywood film Devdas. In 2014, he came to Bihar chasing his political dreams and joined the BJP-led NDA. He coined the slogan “ Aage badi ladai hai, NDA mein bhalayee hai (there is big contest ahead, but good to be in NDA)” during 2014 Lok Sabha poll and splashed local newspapers with full-page advertisements with his large-size photographs and a caption in bold font which read: Son of Mallah.

Mr. Sahani remained with NDA till 2018 but the highly ambitious he formed a Vikashil Insaan Party (VIP) that year to carve his own political course. Later, in 2019 he hopped to Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) and contested the Lok Sabha poll from Khagaria and lost. However he remained with Mahagathbandhan, during the State assembly poll in 2020, till the day it was holding press meets to announce final seat distribution among allies for Assembly elections.

In the press meet held at a luxury hotel in Patna, he surprised everyone saying he was “cheated” in the alliance and went on to join NDA again to contest the State Assembly polls with 11 seats in his party’s kitty. He too contested from Simri-Bakhtiyarpur seat and lost again. But, four of his party’s candidates won the polls and one of them Musafir Paswan from Bochaha constituency died in November 2021.

Mr. Sahani, though, was elected to Legislative Council and became a Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries in Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led NDA government. After one-and-half years with NDA, Mr. Sahani again apparently got disenchanted with the BJP and raised a banner of revolt by putting candidates on 57 seats against BJP candidates in recently concluded Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and slammed top BJP leaders during campaign. His party, though, failed to win a single seat in U.P. but back in Bihar Mr. Sahani claimed Bochaha Assembly seat for which bypoll is scheduled on April 12. The BJP announced its candidate on the seat and Mr. Sahani too did the same next day. Day after, his party MLAs joined BJP and Mr. Sahani was left with no MLAs in his kitty and State BJP chief Sanjay Jaiswal said VIP is now “no longer with NDA in Bihar”.

Political future

But, putting up brave face, Mr. Sahani on Thursday said “I’m son of Mallah and I’ll keep fighting for their rights”. The Mallah or Nishad (fishermen community) are 3-4% of total population in Bihar with 21 sub-castes and 44 surnames. However, Mr. Sahani claimed they are 14.07 % of the population with 1.70 crore voters. The Mallah voters are in sizeable numbers in over a dozen Assembly Constituencies in Bihar like Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Khagaria and others. But, BJP has Ajay Nishad and JD(U) Madan Sahani as party leaders from this community.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sahani praised Opposition RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Thursday hinting at his political future. “I respect Lalu ji from my bottom of heart. It was my mistake not to heed his advice earlier. Lalu ji has done so much work but see he is in jail today”, said Mr. Sahani, attacking the BJP.

Recently, he even had offered Tejashwi Yadav, Lalu’s heir apparent to form the government in Bihar with his support as rotational Chief Ministers.

“The battle is long but kisi ke samne jhukega nahi (will not be cowed down before anyone)”, Mr. Sahani reiterated.