Political start-up’s bid to change Bihar story

The crowded political space in Bihar will now have one more player. Poll strategist turned politician, Prashant Kishor has just launched the Jan Suraaj Party, which will contest the 2025 Bihar assembly polls. Kishor, after a two-year outreach campaign, believes there is scope for a “party-with-a-difference” in Bihar.

The traditional trajectory of political parties in India suggests two trends. One, a party emerges from a large social mobilisation, acquires a programme in due course, and enters electoral politics. Two, activists inspired by an ideology create an outfit to further their ideological agenda. The Congress represents the first: It emerged as the voice of the national movement and under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, transformed into a programme/values-oriented political party. The Communist parties, the DMK (inspired by the Self-Respect Movement), the BJP, and the BSP could be termed ideology-driven while also being associated with mass movements and struggles. A third, recent trend is represented by the AAP, which emerged from public anger with corruption. The AAP, claiming to be a post-ideological formation concerned with governance, caught the national imagination but took off in a meaningful way only in Delhi. Kishor’s model seems to be the AAP.

But can such a party make a difference in Bihar, which has a layered history of political mobilisation? Kishor is projecting civic politics, which he believes can transcend the fault lines of caste, religion, and region on the amorphous and abstract idea of development. He is discussing education and employment, which he believes will attract young voters. There are, of course, examples of voters trusting outliers over established players. Bihar, however, is a more complicated story. Still, Kishor’s project will be keenly watched.

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