Sanjay Nishad

Sanjay Nishad is an Indian politician serving as a cabinet minister in the Second Yogi Adityanath ministry. He has been a member of Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council since 2021. As a member of the Nishad caste, he founded the NISHAD Party in 2016.

Early life and education
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, and founded the Purvanchal Medical Electro Homeopathy Association in 2002 and became its president. Before forming the NISHAD Party, he ran a clinic at Geeta Vatika Road, Gorakhpur for a decade.

Political career
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.

Controversy
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.”