New Delhi: Political strategist Prashant Kishor’s outfit Jan Suraaj will be a full-fledged political party on 2 October, exactly two years after he embarked on a padyatra (foot march) from Bhitiharwa Ashram in Bihar’s West Champaran to connect with the grassroots.
Next Wednesday, an event to celebrate Jan Suraaj’s transformation to a political party will be held at the Bihar Veterinary College ground, Patna. “Just wait another six months, you will find Jan Suraaj everywhere,” Prashant Kishor, also known as PK, told ThePrint Thursday.
Kishor strategised campaigns for the Bharatiya Janata Party, Janata Dal (United), Congress, and Trinamool Congress, among others, before he quit in 2021 and hinted at bigger political aspirations. Since 2022, his padyatra has made its way through Bihar’s districts, with its impact emerging as a subject of fierce debate in political circles.
“Jan Suraaj does not deserve a comment. In the past, political parties such as the Aam Aadmi Party have tried to make an impact and failed,” BJP spokesperson Prem Ranjan Patel told ThePrint.
“Jan Suraaj is a plant of the BJP. PK never criticises Narendra Modi. His attack remains confined to Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav,” said Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) spokesperson Shakti Yadav.
Speaking to ThePrint, Kishor said that on 2 October, he will formally set up a 25-member steering committee, which will lead the party in the 2025 state assembly polls.
However, he has ruled himself out of the chief ministerial race in 2025. “The people will vote for Jan Suraaj, not Prashant Kishor,” he said when asked about the move.
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Soft on the BJP?
There is a perception that Prashant Kishor, in his public speeches, targets Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav more than anyone else.
He refers to Tejashwi as a Class 9 fail and taunts his understanding of Bihar. “Who else should I target? For the last 34 years, it has been Lalu and Nitish who have been ruling Bihar. They are responsible for the mess in the state now. The central leadership of the Congress and the BJP have no interest in developing Bihar. Their interest lies in the Lok Sabha seats. So, they keep propping up Lalu and Nitish, respectively,” Kishor said.
Highlighting the rush in the RJD and JDU promising government jobs, Prashant Kishor said the total number of government jobs from the bottom to the top is only 23 lakh. “It amounts to just 1.5% of Bihar’s population. They never had a vision for the entire population,” he added.
Kishor also pointed out that at 53% roughly, Bihar’s credit-to-deposit (CD) ratio is the lowest among all the states in the country. He said that nearly Rs 2 lakh crore deposits made by Biharis in banks go outside the state. “A much smaller state like Uttarakhand has higher GST collection than Bihar. Yet both Nitish and Lalu ignored these problems.”
The old rut
Of late, many politicians from the National Democratic Alliance and the Grand Alliance have been joining Jan Suraaj.
Former JD(U) MPs Purnmasi Ram and Monazir Hassan, former Union minister D.P. Yadav, and former BJP MP Chhedi Paswan, apart from over 100 former IAS and IPS officers, have joined Jan Suraaj.
Several joinees have doubtful reputations, and the steady stream of aspirants has led to criticism about Prashant Kishore not screening those who want to join his party. “If anybody says they want to join my party, why should I turn them down? The media will then criticise Jan Suraaj as a party without any recognised face. If I had rejected Purnmasi Ram, I would have been dubbed anti-Dalit. But, the bottom line is that they will not be running the party,” Kishor said.
According to informed sources, many mainstream politicians joining Jan Suraaj will not get tickets. However, their sons and daughters, who work as doctors, lawyers, and other professionals, may get tickets. “I stand by the earlier statement that most of the 243 candidates fielded by the party will be fresh faces,” said Kishor.
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The caste balance
Prashant Kishor has promised the people of Bihar education reforms, increased employment opportunities, and the removal of anti-liquor policies.
But, what the NDA and the Grand Alliance find most concerning is that Kishor has announced the number of candidates from each caste or gender his party will field. Jan Suraaj will field 40 Muslims and women and 70 from the Extremely Backward Castes (EBCs), he has said.
The Grand Alliance’s RJD is worried because Prashant Kishore is targeting their core voter base of Muslims and Yadavs. Recently, PK held a meeting of nearly 16,000 Muslims in Patna.
The NDA is worried because Prashant Kishor belongs to the Brahmin caste and will probably make a dent in their traditional upper caste vote bank. It is also anxious about Kishor targeting the EBC votes.
The question in the air is which alliance PK will hit the most in the coming assembly polls. “I will be getting a section of votes from each section of the society,” Kishor declared.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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