JOIN USThe politics of Prashant Kishor: Perplexing or prescient?
Nearly a fortnight has passed since election strategist Prashant Kishor, founder of the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC), announced his Jan Suraaj, or good governance for the people, campaign. But Kishor is yet to elaborate on the ideological underpinnings of the putative movement he has planned across Bihar to galvanise the people of India's third most populous state.
In the aftermath of his nearly an hour-long press interaction in Patna on May 5, Kishor met business persons, retired army officers, and youths. His team has featured them on the Jan Suraaj Facebook page endorsing the idea of Jan Suraaj.
In the press conference, Kishor said he would embark on a padayatra from Champaran from October 2 onwards, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Champaran was the site of Gandhi's first satyagraha in India in 1917 after his return from South Africa. The logo of Kishor's proposed Jan Suraaj has a picture of the Mahatma. Also, Kishor spoke at some length about Gandhi during his press conference, which suggests that he wished to be seen as someone whose politics was inspired by Gandhian ideals and ideas.
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However, the political space is crowded with leaders and political parties who swear by Gandhi, and Kishor would be yet another in that long queue. For example, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar often claims to be an ardent follower of Gandhi. On October 2, 2018, he ordered all government buildings in Bihar to display the Mahatma's teachings prominently. Kumar often quotes Gandhi when he speaks of the evils of liquor consumption.
Therefore, if Kishor were to project the Mahatma's life and teachings as his guiding light, it is unlikely that the people of Bihar would consider him an alternative. This is why Kishor has taken to talking about populist issues along with Gandhian philosophy. He speaks of unemployment, infrastructure, health system, industry, poverty, and other issues.
According to political analysts, Kishor's outreach is directed at Bihar's middle-class youth, for whom ideology comes secondary to livelihood issues of finding jobs, good infrastructure and better health apparatus. "The middle-class youth are more concerned about their livelihoods. They want good jobs and decent lives. Ideology, religion and caste identity are not important to them. I think Kishor is looking at this segment of voters," says Patna-based political analyst Mahendra Suman.
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Suman's assessment is accurate if one analyses Kishor's recent media outreach, including his Patna press conference and interviews with television channels. He focused on the development of Bihar and the idea of Suraaj from the Gandhian perspective. He mentions the misgovernance of the Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar governments but surprisingly never talks about growing communal violence in the state. According to the National Crime Records Bureau report, Bihar reported 9422 communal/religious riots in the year 2020, which is the highest among 28 states (except Union Territories).
Kishor even brushed aside a question on caste-based voting in the state, stating if people cast their votes based on caste, then Narendra Modi should not have received even a single vote in Bihar. But, caste is a reality in Bihar's society, which is why Bihar CM Nitish Kumar and RJD's Tejashwi Yadav agree to demand a caste census despite strong opposition from the BJP, an ally of the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United). Therefore, it begs the question that if caste and religion are part of the life of Bihar, can anyone expect people not to vote on caste and religious lines?
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"It is not possible to make political space in Bihar by merely talking about populist issues," senior journalist Dipak Mishra says. He points to the example of Pushpam Priya Chaudhary, who took a plunge into Bihar politics in the 2020 Assembly polls on the promise of turning the state into Europe by 2030. "She also spoke of development issues and gave tickets to educated individuals but failed miserably. Even Nitish Kumar, who brought many development projects in the Barh area of rural Patna during his tenure as a cabinet minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, could not win the Barh Lok Sabha seat in the 2004 elections. He came to power in Bihar in 2005 riding on the caste equation," Mishra says.
Some observers have said Kishor is trying to replicate the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) experiment and project himself as leading a Bihar version of AAP, but it may not be easy. "See, Delhi is a melting pot and does not have its own culture. Delhi is where people of different regions live and manage their livelihoods, so caste considerations are not their principal motivation. But Bihar is not Delhi," political analyst DM Diwakar says.
(Umesh Kumar Ray is a Patna-based independent journalist)
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH