PATNA: Poll strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor on Wednesday continued to take digs at Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and his Janata Dal-United, saying that Bihar only had two big players in politics, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and that the chief minister’s party, the JD-U, always required a crutch to stay afloat.
“People still shiver to think of the lawless era of Lalu Prasad’s tenure, which is still remembered as ‘jungle Raj’. Still, Muslims vote for the RJD as they say they cannot vote for the BJP. The JD-U does not have an independent identity. So, it is the lack of alternatives that determines people’s choices, and not any great work by any party. It is the reason why Bihar has not witnessed any significant changes despite some progress in the first five years of the Nitish government since 2005 November. After the first stint, Nitish Kumar also lost direction,” Prashant Kishor told reporters in Siwan.
Prashant Kishor parted ways with the JD-U over the party’s support of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in 2020. Last year, Kishor embarked on a 3,000km ‘Jan Suraj’ foot march criss-crossing the state from the West Champaran district on Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary, October 2.
Over the past few days, Prashant Kishor has predicted that the seven-party grand alliance (GA) government – he helped stitch together the GA’s first version back in 2015 – that the alliance is unlikely to last till 2025.
“Earlier, he (Nitish Kumar) said that the BJP was trying to break his party. Soon you will hear the same accusation at the RJD. This alliance cannot last. Today, Upendra Kishwaha is out. Tomorrow somebody else will be out. This pull and pressure will continue. In 2015, I helped form the alliance, not Nitish Kumar or Lalu Prasad. I know the compulsions of alliance politics. Seven parties cannot move together for long. It is impossible,” he added on Tuesday.
A real padyatra
In a state known for all kinds of ‘yatras’, his supporters say Kishor’s padyatra is slow and runs deep, with Kishor covering the distance on foot only. The meticulously planned yatra has teams of well-educated and tech-savvy youth working constantly to prepare the background data about the issues and people. They also do the necessary follow-ups to form various committees to involve people on a sustained basis on core issues of their areas.
Kishor told HT in an interview that his yatra was not political at this stage, as there was no point to form yet another political party in a state maligned for being caste-driven and corruption soaked. “It will be nothing more than another addition to the ever-growing list of seasonal parties without ensuring voter awareness and behaviour reflecting social concerns. Though it is a fact that forming a political party may be the by-product of this yatra, that will be a decision of the people cutting across all sections of society, not me alone. I am trying to make voters understand the importance of political accountability so that they could have their active, not passive, involvement in the decision-making process. The response has been overwhelmingly positive and that keeps me going and get a first-hand feel of sham in the name of development,” he added.
On the pace of his yatra, Kishor stressed that yatras could not be high-flying nor could they be with a pre-conceived notion or orchestrated.
“Gandhiji’s yatra was a never touch and go affair. He stayed in Champaran for one and half years, as he wanted to learn from people and let them know how he wanted to go about the larger cause. I am trying to follow Bapu and I am in no hurry to form a political party. The response on the ground gives me hope that the people are yearning for change and it will be entirely up to them how they want to address their issues,” he said.
Kishor underlined that he had not stepped into a car even once since he embarked on his 3,000-km yatra on October 2 from Champaran. “My padyatra is what Bapu demonstrated. It is not like Congress or JD-U yatra of hop, skip and jump and a lot of hype. In the last four and half months, I have barely covered 20% distance covering over 1,200 villages in four districts, while political parties cover the entire state in 5-10 days. I go to villages negotiating dingy lanes on foot, and not move on national and state highways. I spend time with people and halt for the night wherever I end up in the evening. I don’t move with any security as I don’t fear people. People from all castes and classes come to ‘Jan Suraj’ meetings and they are the real power. They need to wake up to make the big difference. People from all sections sit together and they are the ones who will decide the future political course. My only job is to tell the people about their accountability as voters if they want to feel the change and not be taken for a ride on considerations that have nothing to do with them. I am not into assessing the success or failure of my efforts in presenting a political alternative, for it is for the people to decide. It will happen the way they want,“ he adds.
Drawing eyeballs
During his interactions with the people, he talks to them about the issues that impact them most, and never shies away from taking a potshot at the state’s political leadership that hasn’t delivered.
“Your graduate son is jobless and questions of competitive exams get leaked regularly to rob him of opportunity, while a 10th pass is Deputy CM, because he is the son of Lalu Prasad. You say schools are not good, but tell me have you ever voted for your schools. Bihar government says it spends ₹ ₹40,000-crore on school education and see who is benefiting. There is loot. Nitish Kumar knows the art of clinging on to the chair and that is what he has been doing, surrounded by his selected bunch of officials to see what they want him to see. Nitish Kumar of 2023 is a contrast to the Nitish Kumar of 2014. I know him better than you, as I have worked with him,” he said.
People, he said, need to change their mindset.
“I tell them that they are themselves the best alternative and that they must not give free hand to the leaders they elect irrespective of whether they deliver or not. I have not experienced any caste issues as all sections are represented in my public meetings and they all participate enthusiastically and air their views without fear. The growing number of founding members of ‘Jan Suraj’ in every block, is a reflection of how people are identifying with it, he said, insisting that the yatra has reached villages that nobody visits and nobody views it from the prism of castes.
