UP bypolls: Pravin Kumar Nishad is the David who beat Goliath in Gorakhpur

A protege of the BSP creator-builder, Kanshi Ram, Dr Nishad's plank was carving out a sub quota for the Nishads within the 28 per cent reservation earmarked in education and jobs for the OBCs

Pravin Kumar Nishad has joined the roll of honour of the giant slayers in India’s electoral history but for the 29-year-old, the names of Ravindra Pratap Singh and Raj Narain invokes nothing. Ravindra Pratap and Narain respectively  vanquished Sanjay Gandhi and Indira Gandhi from Amethi and Rae Bareli in the 1977 elections after Emergency was lifted. In Pravin’s words, he breached the “Gorakhpeeth fortress”, seat of the Nath “sampradaya”, a Hindu monastic order of which the present custodian is Yogi Adityanath, Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister. Pravin’s claim might smack of hyperbole because he and his family