Election strategist turned politician Prashant Kishore (PK) has announced that Jansuraj will field candidates in all 243 assembly seats of Bihar. PK made this announcement during the Mahila Samvad program at Bapu Bhavan in Patna and clearly said that his party will not form an alliance with any party. Assembly elections are to be held in Bihar next year. After traversing Bihar through the Jansuraj Pad Yatra, PK is going to officially announce Jansuraj as a political party on October 2.
Before announcing Jansuraj as a political party, Prashant Kishore has made his plan for the Bihar elections clear. In such a situation, now the discussion is also going on about who and where will PK’s Bihar plan hurt in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the opposition grand alliance, who is going to field candidates on every seat in the state?
What is PK’s plan for Bihar?
During his Jansuraj Yatra, PK focused more on those issues which were neglected in politics for a long time. PK talked about issues like migration, poverty, illiteracy. He made the flood disaster a focus point and also targeted casteism-dynastic politics. PK talks about religious harmony and Mahatma Gandhi and chose 2 October, the birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation, to officially announce Jansuraj’s entry into the field as a political party. The strategy behind this is also to counter the narrative of the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) calling it the B team of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly, Tejaswi Yadav had said about PK, “He is not just an agent of BJP, he is its brain. He follows the ideology of BJP. BJP funds him as per its strategy.” RJD spokesperson Ejaz Ahmed had said on PK’s announcement of forming a party – everyone knows for whom he was batting in the Lok Sabha elections. Jan Suraj spokesperson Sanjay Thakur had said on RJD’s allegation, “If Jan Suraj was BJP’s B team, then what was the justification of following Gandhi’s ideology? Gandhi’s ideology has been of equality of all religions and on the other hand, BJP has the ideology of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.”
PK’s party is trying to counter this narrative of the opposition before officially entering the political arena. Jansuraj’s debut date and the spokesperson’s statements point in this direction. When a strategist is going to launch his party, there will be plans too. Now the question is what is PK’s Bihar plan about which there is a stir everywhere, from the ruling party to the opposition. This can be understood in four points – 1- Focus on those voters who want change, 2- Participation in proportion to the population from the organization to power, 3- Focus on poverty and migration, 4- Focus on women and the intelligentsia.
Which plan will hurt whom?
1- Focus on voters who want change
In the press conference in which Prashant Kishor had announced the official launch of Jansuraj as a political party on 2 October, he had also mentioned a survey report. According to PK, in this survey, about 50 percent of the people of Bihar now want change, want a new option. He had said that our goal is to reach these six crore people. Obviously, if the people who want change go with PK, then it will only hurt the prospects of the Grand Alliance. Nitish Kumar and his party have been in the driving seat of power in Bihar since 2005. The strategy of RJD and the Grand Alliance is to cash in on the anti-incumbency against Nitish Kumar and his government.
2- Participation in proportion to population from organization to power
Whether it is the demand for caste census in Bihar, its announcement or the report, at the core of all this was the same slogan – the more the population, the more the participation. While presenting the caste census report in the Bihar assembly, the Nitish Kumar-led government had also tried to increase the reservation limit to 75 percent, which was rejected by the court.
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There is a credit war going on between the ruling coalition led by Nitish Kumar and the opposition RJD, which was then a partner in the government, on the caste census. PK’s Jansuraj has made a long-term move amidst the competition between these two parties. PK’s party spokesperson Sanjay Thakur had already said that PK has announced to give share in the organization, ticket distribution and governance to the people as per their population.
3- The issue of poverty and migration
Issues like poverty, illiteracy and migration are also Prashant Kishor’s priority. PK has also been saying, “Whether drains and streets are built or not, schools and hospitals will improve when they are built, but all the people who have gone out to earn money or the youth who are unemployed, whether they get jobs or not, at least 10 to 15 thousand rupees of employment will be given in Bihar. This is our first resolution.” PK also said in the Mahila Samvad program – Jan Suraj will not let your husband and son migrate for employment. Employment will be arranged in Bihar.
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PK also talked about increasing the amount of old age pension to two thousand rupees. By talking about migration and poverty, he has tried to touch the heart of Bihar which has been neglected in politics for a long time. In the last election, Tejashwi had made employment an issue and RJD emerged as the largest party. Tejashwi is also preparing to take the government jobs given to the public during his tenure as deputy CM as his achievement in the next election. The Nitish-led government is also talking about giving 12 lakh jobs in a year. In such a situation, if PK emerges strongly on the pitch of migration along with employment, then both the alliances may suffer losses.
4- Women Voters
Women are called the silent voters of BJP. Nitish Kumar’s strength is also due to his women vote bank. Now by organizing a big event like Mahila Samvad, PK has given the message that this vote bank is also in his focus. PK touched the pain of women by mentioning migration and talking about employment arrangements, and also demanded that women should be given loans for employment at a cheap rate with government guarantee. PK also said that we will give tickets to at least 40 women in Bihar elections. If PK is able to make a dent in the women vote bank, then JDU and BJP will be the losers.
Source (PTI) (NDTV) (HINDUSTANTIMES)