Latest news with #PrashantKishor
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Decoding the Jan Suraaj Party hype
Last year, Prashant Kishor transitioned from his consultant role into the dynamic arena of electoral politics. With Bihar going to the polls in October, it will be intriguing to observe how a strategist, believed to have masterminded some important political successes, will perform when he contests an election himself. Mr. Kishor, leader of the Jan Suraaj Party (JSP), points out four factors which makes the BJP a formidable electoral force: its Hindutva ideology that serves as an emotional anchor, Narendra Modi's grand narrative of India becoming a global superpower, the creation of millions of direct beneficiaries through welfare schemes, and the sheer financial and organisational strength of the party. Mr. Kishor has asserted that to defeat BJP, one would need to defeat it at least on three of the four accounts. So, how well placed is the JSP to challenge the BJP on these factors? First, ideologically, the BJP's Hindutva claim isn't just a political position; it has become an emotional ecosystem that gives people identity, purpose, and a sense of belonging to something larger than themselves. The JSP's approach has been to focus on Bihar's regional identity and development aspirations while staying studiously secular. It is intellectually honest, sure, but could it be politically naïve given that religious identity in contemporary politics has become increasingly central to how people see themselves politically? Second, Mr. Kishor's 'Bihar Badlav (Bihar Change)' campaign is receiving traction. The messaging is positive: Bihar doesn't need to wait for Delhi's permission to prosper; the State has its own strengths and possibilities. What it needs is leadership that believes in those possibilities. This seems to be resonating with some voters. This narrative is distinct from the BJP's nationalism and the traditional Opposition's criticism. Whether it is enough remains to be seen. Third, pricking a hole in the BJP's beneficiary schemes may be tedious. When a farmer gets his PM Kisan installments, or when a woman gets her Ujjwala gas connection, or when a family gets healthcare through Ayushman Bharat, they are not just receiving benefits; they are entering into a relationship with the government that makes them stakeholders in its success. Can the JSP's promise be enough to attract the voters to vote for it? Fourth, the ability of the JSP to match the BJP's and RJD's organisational structure needs to be looked at. The JSP has been able to create some ground level connects via its leaders' padyatra, but this will be put to test particularly closer to elections. The BJP-led NDA has financial resources, RSS volunteers, sophisticated data analytics, and technological infrastructure that can micro-target individual voters. The RJD has decades of organisational depth and established networks across every village in Bihar and JSP has Mr. Kishor's strategic mind. Will that be enough to challenge the NDA and the Mahagathbandhan? Another important challenge for the JSP is about how the party will be able to challenge dynastic heirs such as Tejashwi Yadav and Chirag Paswan. What makes Mr. Yadav particularly formidable is his younger age, party's organisational strength, and experience. His welfare promises are specific and credible because he has the organisational capacity to deliver them. His focus on employment and migration directly addresses voters' primary concerns. And his consistent opposition to Nitish Kumar's alliance-hopping has given him a reputation for stability that the JSP, as a new entrant, cannot claim. The BJP may find it difficult to put up a young face given its present leadership in Bihar, but JD(U) might prop up a young face such as Nitish Kumar's son Nishant Kumar or Manish Verma, a former IAS officer. At this moment, the picture seems encouraging as the JSP is generating discussion and media attention, but also sobering, since Mr. Kishor may turn out to be an influential voice rather than a decisive force. In a fragmented electoral landscape, the JSP might eventually end up being a kingmaker if neither major alliance achieves a clear majority. This could provide it with disproportionate influence relative to its electoral performance and create opportunities for future growth. Sanjay Kumar is a Professor at the Centre for Studies of Developing Societies and Chandrachur Singh is a Professor of Political Science at Hindu College, University of Delhi. Views expressed are personal
News18
2 days ago
- Politics
- News18
Fresh Alliance Twist In Bihar? Pappu Yadav Says Chirag Paswan, Prashant Kishor Have ‘Joined Hands'
Ahead of Bihar elections, Pappu Yadav claimed Chirag Paswan and Prashant Kishor have joined hands. Ahead of the Bihar state assembly elections, Independent MP from Purnia, Pappu Yadav on Sunday claimed that Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) President Chirag Paswan and Jan Suraaj Party (JSP) chief Prashant Kishor have joined hands for the polls. While speaking to the reporters, the Purnia MP said that Kishor should declare Paswan as the Chief Ministerial candidate. Pappu Yadav further said that if Paswan does not feel to stay with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), he would welcome him. 'Chirag Paswan and Prashant Kishor have joined hands. Prashant Kishor should announce Chirag Paswan as the Chief Minister… Everyone knows that if they win even a few seats, it will cause trouble for the JDU and trouble for Nitish ji. If Chirag ji doesn't like it there, we will welcome him," he said as quoted by news agency ANI. #WATCH | Patna, Bihar: Independent MP from Purnia, Pappu Yadav, says, 'Chirag Paswan and Prashant Kishor have joined hands. Prashant Kishor should announce Chirag Paswan as the Chief Minister… Everyone knows that if they win even a few seats, it will cause trouble for JDU,… — ANI (@ANI) July 27, 2025 The Purnia MP's remarks came a day after Paswan lashed out his ally Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the deteriorating law and order situation in the state saying that he feels 'sad and ashamed to support" the government under the current situation. With elections in Bihar looming later this year, Chirag's blunt criticism has caused ripples within the ruling alliance. While speaking to the reporters in Patna, the Union Minister expressed anguish and accused its ally government of failing to curtail the rising crime rate. 'I feel sad that I am supporting such a government here. It is imperative to control it, or else the consequences will be very bad," he said as quoted by news agency ANI. With assembly elections approaching, Paswan acknowledged the possibility of crimes being orchestrated to defame the government. However, he emphasised that it is still the administration's responsibility to maintain law and order. 'I have heard claims that the recent spurt in violent crimes is linked to the upcoming assembly polls, and there are attempts to defame this government. Still, it is the responsibility of the administration to keep law and order under control," he added. He further attacked the government and said, 'Either the administration is in collusion with it or the administration has become completely useless and now it is beyond their power to keep Bihar and Biharis safe." Amid the criticism, Union Minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi urged Chirag Paswan to remain with the NDA and work to strengthen it. 'We are in NDA. We have to help NDA. We wish him all the best. He should strengthen the NDA," said Manjhi. Referring to Paswan's approach during the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, Manjhi said, 'If he does not adopt the 2020 policy, it will be a very good thing." Earlier, Prashant Kishor had reiterated that Jan Suraaj would not field any 'baahubalis" or candidates with questionable backgrounds. " There is no place for any 'Baahubali' in Jan Suraaj, be it gun, money, liquor, sand or political 'Baahubali'. The children of common people will contest in Jan Suraaj," Kishor told reporters. A high-stakes battle is expected in Bihar, where the NDA, which includes Janata Dal (United) led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), will face the Mahagathbandhan. The opposition alliance includes Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), and Left parties. view comments Location : Patna, India, India First Published: News politics Fresh Alliance Twist In Bihar? Pappu Yadav Says Chirag Paswan, Prashant Kishor Have 'Joined Hands' Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Indian Express
3 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Tavleen Singh writes: Potted plants don't grow tall
It was with deepening gloom that I watched the shenanigans outside Parliament last week. I cannot understand why our Opposition leaders have not yet realised that they should be inside the House and not prancing around like spoilt children outside it. They were elected to sit inside the Lok Sabha, so every time they bring Parliament to a halt, they let down the people who voted for them. Protests of the kind we saw over the 'death of democracy' are now routine. All that changes is the issue over which our Opposition leaders behave so badly inside the Lok Sabha that it is adjourned repeatedly. This gives the Leader of the Opposition the chance to complain again that he is not allowed 'to speak inside the House'. He would be if he made his case less childishly inside Parliament instead of in its courtyard. This time as I watched the protest, I observed, not for the first time, that nearly every Indian Opposition leader is a political prince or princess from a political family. All three members of the mighty Gandhi dynasty joined the protest. As I brooded over the damage that political dynasties from Kashmir to Kanyakumari have done to Indian democracy and to our political culture, I remembered something that Prashant Kishor said at an Express Adda. He called leaders who came from political families 'potted plants.' When Prashant Kishor came to mind, I also remembered that he has spent the past couple of years or more wandering through the villages of Bihar, explaining to voters what their democratic rights are. He now leads a political party called Jan Suraaj and because I believe that India desperately needs political leaders like Prashant Kishor, I posted about this on X. I said that if I were voting in Bihar, I would vote for his party and, with a little exaggeration, said he was the most inspiring and important Indian leader I had met and that we need a hundred more like him. What I did not expect is to touch a chord in the public square of social media. My tweet was viewed by more than 1,00,000 people, liked by nearly 2,000 and retweeted 500 times. There were also more than 500 comments and other than the usual 'go to Pakistan' jibes and complaints that I had no right to be a political columnist, I noticed that some of those who attacked me did it out of the fear that Kishor could be another Arvind Kejriwal. They said that they knew India needed a new kind of political leader, but were apprehensive of being let down once more. This interested me. Personally, I always saw Kejriwal as a fraud and never supported his antics or his politics. I happened to be in Varanasi when he gave up his job as Delhi's Chief Minister to come and challenge Narendra Modi for the top job. I saw it as dangerous narcissism rather than concern for the people. He sat totally ignored under a banyan tree on Assi Ghat and that is where I spotted him for the first time since the drama in Ramlila Maidan, all those years ago, when he stole Anna Hazare's movement against corruption and became its hero. He was, in my view, always megalomaniacal to a scary degree. Men like him do not put in the long years and hard work needed to become a real leader. It is only real leaders with a genuine interest in understanding the problems ordinary Indians face who do this. Prashant Kishor has shown not just that he can put in the hard work, but also that he has a genuine interest in helping India become a better country. On his rural travels in one of our poorest states, he would have seen the horrific conditions in which ordinary people live. He would have seen the broken-down schools like the one that collapsed in Jhalawar, burying small children in its debris. There are schools like that all over rural India. There are health centres that have been turned into cowsheds and rural hospitals with filthy wards and stray dogs wandering through them. He would have seen the hovels in which poorer people are forced to live. He would have seen that despite all this, they continue to hope that one day a leader will come who will bring real change into their lives. Change can come only when we start electing better leaders. It came for a while in Narendra Modi's first months as prime minister. There was the Swachh Bharat campaign that transformed rural sanitation and the building of rural roads, but then these efforts got dwarfed by the Hindutva cultural revolution. The building of temples became more important than the building of the tools that help people living in extreme poverty escape from it. Had our Opposition seized this opportunity to start recruiting better people into their ranks, they would today have been in a much better position to win elections. Instead of complaining ad nauseum about the Election Commission, they need to try and understand why they seem never to get their message through to voters. The problem with dynastic political parties is that they keep real leaders out as far as possible so that the heir never sees a threat to his authority. This is why 'potted plants' are truly the biggest threat to democracy.
Indian Express
5 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
FIR against Prashant Kishor, 2,000 Jan Suraaj supporters over Bihar Assembly protest
Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor, eight other leaders of the outfit and 2,000 unidentified supporters have been booked for assault, rioting and violating curfew orders amid a protest march in Patna Wednesday. Apart from Kishor, the FIR at Patna's Secretariat Police Station names Jan Suraaj's state president Manoj Bharti, spokesperson Vivek Kumar, N. P. Mandal, Kishor Kumar, Arvind Singh, Lalan Yadav, Jitendra Yadav, and YouTuber-politician Manish Kashyap. According to the FIR, authorities received information regarding Jan Suraaj's plan to gherao the Vidhan Sabha the day before the June 23 protest and barricaded all routes to the Assembly. 'Initially, party leaders and workers were expected to proceed from Sheikhpura House to Dumra Chowky via Bailey Road, onward to Income Tax Golambar and R Block. However, the group diverted from Dumra Chowky via Airport Road towards Patel Golambar. Leaders and workers of the Jan Suraaj Party, about 2,000 in number, reached near Patel Golambar via Airport Road,' says the FIR, filed on the basis of a complaint by Sanjay Kumar Mishra, a chief cooperative extension officer in the office of the assistant registrar of Cooperative Societies. It claims that although the march was meant to reach the Gardanibagh protest site via Chitkohra Bridge, it headed towards Gate No. 2 of the Patna Zoo via Taylor Road instead. 'When police tried to stop them, the crowd broke through the barricades and reached up to SSG Gate,' it says. The FIR further alleges the protestors 'began jostling and physically confronting the male and female police officers deployed there', despite being 'repeatedly informed that prohibitory orders under Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita were in force from 21 July to 25 July… in light of the Bihar Legislative Assembly session.' Protestors were allegedly instructed to head to the designated protest area at Gardanibagh and were warned of legal action for non-compliance. Despite this, 'the processionists blocked half of Taylor Road and Patel Golambar, resulting in traffic disruption for about two hours, causing significant inconvenience to the general public', the FIR adds. Jan Suraaj had decided to gherao the Assembly over three demands – disbursing Rs 2 lakh to poor families, allocation of three decimals of land to landless Dalit families, and action against alleged corruption in land surveys. According to authorities, the party had not sought permission for the protest, and that a scuffle broke out, leading the police to lathi-charge protesters. Kishor said later Wednesday that a Jan Suraaj delegation met Chief Secretary Amrit Lal Meena to formally submit a list of their demands, adding that 'the party will organise another protest, gheraoing the chief minister's residence' if the demands are not met in a week.
The Hindu
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Bihar police lathi charge on protesting Jan Suraaj workers in Patna, many get injured
Police lathi charged on the protesting Jan Suraaj party workers who were on their way to gherao the ongoing Monsoon Session of Bihar Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday (July 23, 2025). In the scuffle between the police and party workers, many got seriously injured. Jan Suraaj party was protesting against the government in support of their demands including alleged corruption in land survey, Dalit families not getting three decimal of land and 94 lakh poor families not getting ₹2 lakh for employment despite government announcement. As planned, the party workers were not allowed to enter the road which was leading towards the Assembly building. They tried their best from 11 a.m. when the Assembly proceedings began but everywhere there was heavy deputation of the police force. Holding placards, banners and posters, the party workers gathered at Patel Chowk near Chitkohra Bridge. Even Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor also reached near the protest site. When the police tried to stop them, party workers including Mr. Kishore sat on a dharna on the road itself after a scuffle. The police tried hard to remove the workers and when they tried to break the police barricading and move towards the Assembly, the police responded through lathi charge to disperse the protestors. Many of the party workers received injuries. One party worker was hit on his head. One party worker was hit on both legs due to which he was unable to walk. Both were rushed to nearby hospitals. Pointing towards the police, Mr. Kishor said, 'Why did you lathi charge on my party workers? Did any of my party workers pelt stones on any police officer or magistrates, then why do you people lathi charge on them? Do you have the guts to use your lathi on me then I will show what I can do. I will make it difficult for the government to function even for a day.' When a police officer asked him to leave the place, Mr. Kishor further said, 'Don't show me this police tantrum, I have seen enough of this. For the last two months, we have trying to meet the Chief Minister over our demands but there is no response. We also tried to meet the Governor but ge also did not have time. So, we had no other options except going to Vidhan Sabha.' Later, a six member delegation led by Jan Suraaj State president Manoj Bharti met Bihar Chief Secretary Amrit Lal Meena to hand over the memorandum of the demands. Mr. Kishor threatened if the government does not take action on their demands then he will gheraoe the official residence of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar by bringing one lakh people.
