Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) chief Mukesh Sahani decided not to contest the Bihar elections after the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan gave his party only 15 seats, short of the 24 he demanded.
Sahani will continue to campaign for the Grand Alliance and nominated his brother Santosh to contest from Gaura-Bauram seat in Darbhanga. Sahani is pushing for the Deputy Chief Minister post if the Grand Alliance forms the government.
Who Is Mukesh Sahani?
Mukesh Sahani was born on March 31, 1981, in Bihar's Supaul to Jitan Sahani and Meena Devi in a poor Nishad family. The Nishads, or mallahs, are part of Bihar's Extremely Backward Classes (EBC) category. Mukesh Sahani studied until class 8. In 1999, at 18, he moved to Mumbai to work and support his family financially.
Sahani started his career as a Bollywood set designer and later founded Mukesh Cineworld Pvt Ltd, handling sets for films, TV shows, and events. His company worked on films and shows such as Devdas, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, and Bigg Boss.
After achieving success in Mumbai, he returned to Supaul to work on uplifting his community.
He dedicated himself to social service under the banner "Son of Mallah". In 2010, Sahani founded the Sahani Samaj Kalyan Sanstha, opening offices in Darbhanga and Patna to educate, organise, and unite the community. By 2014, he had organised the Zonal Nishad Rights Conference in Darbhanga, recognised as the start of the Nishad revolution in Bihar.
In 2016, Sahani formally founded the Nishad Vikas Sangh. He led initiatives like the Nishad Rath Yatra to raise consciousness about community rights, social justice, and reservation demands. By 2017, the Sangh had expanded across all districts and panchayats.
In 2015, Sahani led a massive protest at Gandhi Maidan, Patna, demanding reservations for the Nishad community, prompting a government response within 24 hours. He later organised statewide rallies, including marches of over 10,000 women, and expanded his movement to Uttar Pradesh.
Sahani caught the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who brought him into the BJP fold, where he quickly became a star campaigner. He campaigned for the party during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and again in the 2015 Bihar Assembly polls. The alliance soured when his demand for Scheduled Caste status for the Nishads went unmet.
In 2018, he launched the Vikasheel Insaan Party (VIP). The VIP joined the Grand Alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections but lost in all three seats (Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, and Khagaria) it contested.
In the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, VIP joined the BJP-led NDA, winning four seats, but Sahani lost. He was appointed Minister for Animal Husbandry & Fisheries in the Nitish Kumar cabinet and became a member of the legislative council.
He gained attention for the public criticism of PM Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. Despite having little support in UP, he fielded over 50 candidates, aiming to unseat the Adityanath government. All of them lost, with many even losing their deposits.
He then fielded seven candidates against the BJP for the April 2022 Bihar MLC polls. The BJP retaliated by fielding a candidate in the Bochaha Assembly bypoll, a seat which was held by Sahani's party.
On March 23, 2022, three VIP MLAs, Raju Kumar Singh, Misri Lal Yadav, and Swarna Singh, joined the BJP leaving Sahani without any legislators in the Bihar assembly.
On March 27, 2022, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar removed him from the cabinet.
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