PM MODI NEWS: Who is Prashant Kishor? Former political strategist hands Modi’s party first defeat since ‘cockroach’ protests.“dog or a cat”.
In 2022, he embarked on a 3,000km march on foot across Bihar in what observers saw as preparation for the launch of his own party, which he did two years later. But Jan Suraaj failed to win a single seat in the legislative election the following year. So, when Kishor made his electoral debut this week, he described it as a verdict against chief minister Samrat Choudhary, “against whom I have nothing personal, but who is detested by educated people of Bihar because of criminal antecedents and lack of qualifications”. “For all the young people aspiring to enter politics, those who believe the shackles of caste in Bihar cannot be broken or that politics here cannot transcend the two dominant streams,” he added, “the result in Bankipur will serve as a powerful eye-opener.” The by-election campaign in Bihar – one of India’s poorest states – unfolded against a backdrop of concerns about unemployment, law-and-order, and leaks of exam papers.
Who is Prashant Kishor? Former political strategist hands Modi’s party first defeat since ‘cockroach’ protestsPolitical consultant who once designed election campaigns for Modi, defeats ruling BJP in one of its most formidable strongholds. What does his victory mean for a polity reeling from recent Gen Z protests? Namita Singh reports by Independent News
As a career political strategist, Prashant Kishor helped candidates and parties win elections against formidable opponents. As a politician, he’s making the ruling party sweat.Kishor won his maiden electoral victory earlier this month by securing a state legislative seat that was considered so safe for the BJP that prime minister Narendra Modi’s party had claimed they would win even if they fielded a “dog or a cat”.
Kishor, 49, won the Bankipur seat in Bihar in a by-election by a margin of almost 18,000 votes, handing the BJP a stunning defeat in the aftermath of the youth-led “cockroach” protests that forced the ouster of Modi’s education minister last month. Bankipur had been a BJP stronghold since 1995.
The former consultant’s victory came less than a year after his then newly launched Jan Suraaj party fared poorly in the Bihar assembly election, failing to win any of the 238 seats it contested.
In the aftermath of that humbling, Kishor was all but written off as a political force in Bihar.Bihar is India’s third most-populous state, home to nearly 130 million, making it influential in national politics.
The eastern state sends one of the largest blocs of lawmakers to the lower house of India’s parliament and is widely seen as a bellwether for what is known as the Hindi heartland. Control of the state often shapes national political narrativesThe Bankipur by-election was called after five-time legislator Nitin Nabin vacated the seat to sit in the Rayja Sabha, the upper house of India’s parliament, following his elevation to the post of BJP president.The party was quite confident of winning the election. “Even if we field a dog or a cat on a BJP ticket in Bankipur, it will win," former federal minister Ravi Shankar Prasad reportedly said during the campaign. Prasad later denied making the remark.
Calling the electoral verdict a “wake-up call" for Modi, Kishor says Bihar needs a leadership focused on education, jobs, and curbing migration.Bihar needs a chief minister who can improve education, create jobs and stop migration. Our objective is not to become legislators for contracts but to ensure Bihar’s development," he saysKishor credits his victory to not just the work of party members but also to the disgruntled supporters of his opposition.
I would like to thank my active supporters as well as those who backed me in the by-election despite not being with Jan Suraaj. I received support from people in BJP, Congress and RJD unhappy with the state of affairs in their party," he says, referring to the ruling party and Bihar’s main opposition parties
He acknowledges that the “atmosphere created by the Gen Z protests” may have played a role as well
Political analyst Amitabh Tiwari says the result can’t be explained by a singular reason.
"Every election result has multiple explanations. Bankipur is no different," he told India Today, noting anti-incumbency against the ruling alliance of the BJP and the Janata Dal United as a crucial factor.
He also pointed to cracks in the BJP's traditional upper-caste Hindu coalition, weakening of the RJD’s support among different caste groups, and youth anger. The caste system, a rigid social stratification system that dates back thousands of years, is critical in Indian life and politics. There are scores of caste-based political parties and many state institutions must offer quotas to lower castes for employment and college places
In any case, Kishor’s victory marks another milestone in his career.
Kishor first came to wide attention for shaping Modi’s launch as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate in 2014 before falling out with him and helping design campaigns for his opponents.
One of the more popular campaigns he ran for Modi was “Chai Pe Charcha”, loosely translated as chat over tea, which helped soften the Hindu nationalist leader’s image for voters beyond his core support base and paved the way for the “Modi wave” that would sweep the BJP to a series of national and state elections victories.
In 2015, Kishor joined Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal United, which was then in opposition to the BJP but later allied with it. He joined the party as vice president, making his political ambitions clear.
The partnership was short-lived. They fell out in 2020 over Kumar’s support to the BJP’s Citizenship Amendment Act, which was seen as targeting the Muslim minority and led to widespread protests in the country
2016, Kishor was roped in by the Congress party to help design campaigns for state elections in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab the following year.
While his intervention didn’t do much for the party in Uttar Pradesh, he helped return it to power in Punjab after a decade.
He was also engaged on the winning side in the 2019 election in Andhra Pradesh and the 2020 election in Delhi.
His most formidable challenge came in West Bengal in 2021.
He worked on ground with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress to thwart the BJP, which had directed substantial resources to the eastern state, where it had never won a state election. After helping Banerjee win a third straight term as chief minister, Kishor hung his boots as political strategist.
In 2022, he embarked on a 3,000km march on foot across Bihar in what observers saw as preparation for the launch of his own party, which he did two years later.
But Jan Suraaj failed to win a single seat in the legislative election the following year.
So, when Kishor made his electoral debut this week, he described it as a verdict against chief minister Samrat Choudhary, “against whom I have nothing personal, but who is detested by educated people of Bihar because of criminal antecedents and lack of qualifications”.
“For all the young people aspiring to enter politics, those who believe the shackles of caste in Bihar cannot be broken or that politics here cannot transcend the two dominant streams,” he added, “the result in Bankipur will serve as a powerful eye-opener.”
The by-election campaign in Bihar – one of India’s poorest states – unfolded against a backdrop of concerns about unemployment, law-and-order, and leaks.
“Prashant Kishor struck all the right notes. He tapped into the growing dissatisfaction among the upper castes by raising issues, like the death after suspected rape of a Neet aspirant,” a BJP politician told the Times of India, referring to a minor girl who was discovered unconscious at a hostel in the state capital Patna.
