Mission Bihar of Prashant Kishor
In 1977, Asra came up with a film – Chala Murari Hero Bane. Before this, Asrani gained fame as a comedian. But now the desire to become a director started burning inside him. Asrani has always impressed millions of viewers as an actor but as a director he did not get the expected success, though his meaningful efforts are still appreciated today. If you see, many veterans also often fall victim to such understanding and situations. If the director tries to be the hero, then the hero wants to be the director. This is seen not only in cinema but also in sports and politics. Here, we are not comparing election strategist turned Jansuraj Dal leader Prashant Kishor with Chala Murari becoming a hero, rather we want to highlight the effort that every conscious and intelligent person goes through at least once in his life. Everyone is also aware of Prashant Kishor’s efforts.
Prashant Kishor has basically been an election strategist, with his efficiency he has elevated many political figures from the state to the centre, brought them to power and branded them. In which PM Narendra Modi, Nitish Kumar and Mamata Banerjee are also included. But now he himself has prepared to enter the field of politics. It is possible that he may have also assessed his situation. For more than two years, Prashant has been traveling across Bihar and holding meetings. They are trying to understand the mood of the people at the grass root level and also conveying their message. He claims that after his visit there has been awareness among the people of Bihar. Apart from Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav, there is uneasiness among the people about the third option. The result of this is that Prashant Kishor has announced the launch of his new party Jansuraj on Gandhi Jayanti on 2nd October.
Prashant Kishor’s Political Utopia
Prashant Kishore has also been giving interviews for his upcoming political film as a director for the past few days. Based on all his interviews, it can be said that PK has tried to prepare a big canvas on the political chessboard of Bihar. A canvas on which is the new utopia of racist politics. His scheme has something for everyone, youth, old, Dalits, Mahadalits, Backward Classes, Very Backward Classes, Muslims and women. He has announced to contest all 243 assembly seats in the state without any alliance. That means its actual launch is going to be in 2025. Till now he was behind the scenes, now when will he hit the screen, everyone will wait to see if his political film is a hit or a flop.
By the way, Prashant Kishor has drawn a big electoral line ahead of the 2025 Bihar assembly elections. By forming the Jansuraj Party’s Central Committee, he has announced to address the fundamental socio-economic issues of not only all sections of society but also all marginalized sections of society. Recently he organized a women’s convention in Patna and introduced his doctor wife Janhavi Das. Along with this, Prashant Kishor has also announced to give tickets to 40 women in Bihar in the upcoming elections. PK understands the power of women’s vote bank in elections, so he has tried this experiment. The voting percentage of women in Bihar is steadily increasing. If we look at the last Lok Sabha elections, about 52 percent of men voted while 62 percent of women voted.
PK is eyeing women and Muslim votes
Apart from this, he has also announced to give tickets to Muslims on 75 seats. Earlier this number was called 42. Be it Nitish or Tejashwi-Lalu in Bihar, both are essential for the Muslim votebank. Neither Tejashwi nor Nitish Kumar wants to move away from this vote bank. Bihar has about 18 percent of the Muslim vote and 47 seats are dominated by Muslim candidates. Now Prashant Kishor intends to damage both RJD and JDU by fielding 75 Muslim candidates. Prashant Kishor believes that there is no Muslim leader in Bihar. At this time he is seen trying to stop Asaduddin Owaisi in Bihar.
Besides women and Muslims, Prashant Kishor is trying to woo the upper castes, especially the Bhumihars and Brahmins, and the Yadavas and Dalits among the backward classes. It is believed that no one can stop the party which dominates Bhumihar and Brahmin classes along with Muslims, women and Yadavs in Bihar from winning majority. Recently, he gave a jolt to Lalu Yadav-Tejaswi Yadav by including former RJD MP Devendra Yadav in Jansuraj. Prashant Kishor claims that his strategy is making rapid inroads into these segments. Their strategy is to get as much of their population as possible for organization, ticket and governance. This is the special slogan of his Jansuraj Party. With this slogan, he has tried to stir up the people of the state by raising social issues like youth migration from Bihar, poverty, unemployment, floods etc.
People want change but who to elect?
Prashant Kishor has also claimed in his interview and survey that fifty percent people of Bihar want change. However, there is no doubt that his claim has merit. The people of Bihar have been watching Lalu vs Nitish Raj for the past three decades and feel cheated. Even though the two leaders were against each other, they ran the government hand in hand and when they fell apart, they targeted each other. This created a negative image of both on the mood of the new generation of Bihar. But the political chessboard of Bihar is such that the issue of caste is never pressed here. Nitish and Lalu’s respective caste support base is stronger than ever. It is not very easy to strengthen one’s side by weakening this base. Nitish’s repeated party switching did not affect him in the elections.
Of course, Prashant Kishor creates a utopia and raises serious emotional and social issues. But politics does not happen in utopia. Be it prohibition or the issue of women’s rights in ancestral property, both these issues have made Nitish Kumar’s women vote bank very strong. How will Prashant Kishor cut it? Will women vote if only women candidates come forward? On the other hand, the BJP tried to field several Yadavs in Bihar, from Hukumdev Narayan Yadav to Ramkripal Yadav, against Lalu, but could not break the Lalu-Tejashvi equation. How can Prashant Kishor overcome this? Looking at these questions, the direction to make Janasraj successful is currently at stake.
