After a long time in Bihar politics, there is a disruptor to the traditional parties—the Jan Suraaj Party founded by Prashant Kishor. It shuns both the communal line of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as the socialist agenda of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and focuses on a few key areas like education, health and development. While this is the party’s USP, it could also be its undoing, given the brand of politics in Bihar. Jan Suraaj is contesting all the 243 seats and Kishor has proclaimed that winning anything less than 150 seats will be considered a defeat. That’s his typical rhetoric. To understand how the Jan Suraaj will matter in these elections Satish Padmanabhan spoke to the party’s chief national spokesperson and senior leader, Pavan K. Varma. Excerpts.
Bihar Election: Will Jan Suraaj Matter This Time?
Prashant Kishore’s Jan Suraaj shuns both the communal line of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as well as the socialist agenda of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and focuses on a few key areas like education, health and development.
The most dramatic recent news from the Jan Suraaj Party is that Prashant Kishor will not be contesting these elections‚against Tejashwi Yadav from Raghopur. He has said the reason is he doesn’t want to focus only on his constituency, but spend time on all others. But on the ground, many feel he is running scared at the last minute after making some bombastic statements against his rival.
First of all, it’s a very tried and tested strategy in electoral politics that for the leader a decision needs to be made whether he or she is required to use their resources to campaign for the other candidates across the states or stand for himself or herself from a particular constituency. He could have stood from Raghopur, which I am sure he would have given a very tough fight to Tejashwi, and if not, in all probability, defeated him. But on reconsideration we felt that since we are the only party which is fielding candidates in all 243 seats, his campaigning will boost the chances of our candidates across the state rather than being tied down to one constituency even if it was for three or four days. Bihar is not Delhi where Arvind Kejriwal could contest elections. We are dealing with 243 constituencies. And each of those candidates, although very credible and strong locally, come from a different cloth than the normal politicians of Bihar. Without baalu (sand) mafia, muscle men, bagsful of money. These are credible candidates with the respect and support of their constituency. But they need a catalysing force. This was in the best interest of the party rather than making one constituency a prestige fight at the cost of 242 other constituencies.
And let me tell you, we are not a disruptor. We are a credible third alternative which Bihar needs. And that is the strength of our party.
Is Bihar ready for a party like Jan Suraaj? If you see the ticket distribution of the other mainstream parties, it shows how caste is the most important factor even today.
That’s a stereotype about Bihar which is projected by those western interests who believe that Bihar can never change and can only be a supply of cheap labour which is exploited by other states living in miserable conditions. Bihar has been the cradle of change. That Biharis are completely tied down to caste loyalties, that they can’t think beyond it, these are all stereotypes. Tell me which state in the country does not have caste? There are states which have greater caste equations than in Bihar. So to say that Bihar is not ready for change would be to completely ignore 30 years of misrule, misgovernance and neglect. Thirty years ago, Bihar was the poorest and the most backward state in the country. Thirty years after the Nitish-Lalu rule, in various combinations, Bihar is still exactly there—the poorest and the most backward state with the lowest per capita income, the highest rate of unemployment and the highest rate of migration.
That’s exactly what I mean…
That is exactly why they are ready for change. And the same faces and the same parties using dharma and jati, religion and caste, use the people of Bihar as though they are puppets at the end of a string that they can pull to come back to power. If today, the Jan Suraaj Party has a paid membership of 1.3 crore, it is proof that people of Bihar are looking for an alternative. They want change and Jan Suraaj’s entry has touched the right chord with them. So I don’t understand what you mean when you ask if Bihar is ready for change.
“Let me tell you, we are not a disruptor. We are a credible third alternative which Bihar needs. And that is the strength of our party.”
What I mean is, other parties are doling out schemes like Rs 10,000 direct transfer to women, a government job for one member of every family. In the face of such tactics where does Jan Suraaj stand?
I think finally the people of Bihar, however poor, however backward, have realised enough is enough. Today, revdi and jhumlas (inducements and false promises) are raining down, right? I mean for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) to transfer, shortly before the model code of conduct came into effect‚Rs 10,000 to 21 lakh women by direct benefit transfer is not only unethical, it’s against the spirit of the Constitution. Because it’s straight bribery. But the people will see through it. Prashant Kishor has repeatedly said that they will throw money at you to get votes. Keep the money. It’s your money coming back which you have paid as bribe. So if the people have seen through this game, then Jan Suraaj is going to do extremely well. If they have not, we will see. In which case, Jan Suraaj will begin the fight again. But one thing is very clear. The kind of politics we have seen for the last 30 years‚ideology-less, morality-less, complete corruption, no governance, misrule and crime. It cannot continue anymore.
Jan Suraaj is betting big on the youth. But isn’t it a mistake to consider the youth as a homogenised group? There are the same fissures of caste, class, religion among the youth that existed in the older generation.
Bihar is demographically a very young state. The youth are aspirational. The youth resent the fact that there is no education. If there is a school, there is no teacher. If there is a teacher, there is no board in the school. Bihar was once called the dhar of gyan, the land of knowledge. Today, there are universities and colleges which only produce students who are unemployable. They resent the fact that they have to leave their state, their home, their families and go out. Some 60 lakh of them get miserable jobs at miserable salaries. They are angry at the fact that the term Bihari is still a pejorative.
I am not saying caste does not matter. Caste matters in every election in every state in India. But I am saying that to believe that no state can ever, in perpetuity, rise above caste for change which is for its own benefit, of its people, is a misnomer.
Prashant Kishor has said anything less than 150 seats would be seen as defeat for the Jan Suraaj Party. You are a practical man; you are realistic in your estimates. What’s the realistic number of seats Jan Suraaj can win this time?
I will give you a realistic answer. If the strength of our message, its relevance, the importance it has for the quality of lives of the long-suffering people of Bihar. If that has resonated and percolated and been internalised, I expect our assessment is an unprecedented sweep. But if it has not percolated down, then Prashant Kishor himself has said we will get 10 seats, and fight for another five years.
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