Over 60% of people in Bihar want change and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar will not be the chief minister of the state after the elections later this year, a confident Prashant Kishor has predicted, offering to give this in writing as well.
In an exclusive, wide-ranging conversation with NDTV on Saturday, the Jan Suraaj party founder and former political strategist also spoke about not being in the race for the chief minister’s post, the impact his party has already had in Bihar, and the electoral roll revision in the state, which he said needs more transparency.
Mr Kishor, who has worked with the Janata Dal (United) (JDU), BJP, Trinamool Congress, and several other parties in the past, said a survey done by him and his team has revealed that 62% of people in Bihar want change. The only question now, he stressed, is whether they will vote for his new party, or the old guard like Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress.
“In the next two months, it will be decided who the over 60% of people who want change will vote for. Will they vote again for those who have let them down before? Will they trust them? Or will they opt for a new alternative? Either way, Nitish Kumar will definitely not be the chief minister after November (when the Assembly elections are expected to be held). I can give this to you in writing. Bihar will have a new chief minister,” Mr Kishor predicted.
Asked what made him so confident, the Jan Suraaj party founder pointed to Mr Kumar’s “mental and physical state”, and also threw in a few additional digs.
“All of Bihar knows that Nitish Kumar’s mental and physical condition is not such that he can get anything done. A person who is sitting on a stage and forgetting the name of the Prime Minister sitting next to him; who, when the national anthem is playing, doesn’t know whether it’s the national anthem or a ‘qawwali’… who hasn’t addressed the media in a year. A person who is not in a state to look after himself… how will he look after Bihar? So, if you and I know this, don’t PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah?” he pointed out.
“Despite this, they have kept him front and centre so that they can continue with this arrangement at least until the elections are done, and then a new chief minister can come in. You may ask why they are not removing him now, and the answer is that the BJP does not have the preparation or confidence to contest elections on its own in Bihar, and neither has it done so in the past. So, since they have to fight with someone, they are carrying the burden that is Nitish Kumar,” the former political strategist added.
If Not Nitish, Who?
Taking things a step further, Mr Kishor insisted that the JDU will not win more than 25 of the state’s 243 seats, and said he would quit politics if he is proven wrong about this.
“You can write this down. JDU, on its own strength, is going to get less than 25 seats. If this does not happen, I will quit politics. After the elections, the very existence of JDU will be in question… Nitish Kumar’s approval rating has gone down from 60% to 16-17%. The JDU has no cadre… the only thing it had was Nitish Kumar, and even that is gone now,” the former political strategist emphasised.
The next chief minister, Mr Kishor said, will not be former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav either, claiming that it was his RJD that got Bihar to the state it is in.
So, who does that leave?
“In Bihar, the next chief minister will be from Jan Suraaj. You wait and watch,” Mr Kishor said, but added – when pressed – that it would not be him.
“I am not in the chief minister’s race. I have not come here to become chief minister. Jan Suraaj is not my father’s party. I did not even become the state president or national president. I have come to change the system in Bihar, and that has already started… I am going to Nitish Kumar’s district of Nalanda today, where no one has been able to win. The JDU is losing even in Nalanda,” he claimed.
Mr Kishor said 1.25 crore people have joined the Jan Suraaj movement, and he was then asked whether he sees himself as the kingmaker.
“Yes, I am a kingmaker. This movement is about making the people and children of Bihar kings. It is about getting the children of Bihar out of poverty… For me, the idea is to help Bihar improve. Being Bihari should become a source of pride; no child should think ‘Bihari’ is a curse word,” he said.
To illustrate his point that he is not after posts, he said he could have taken an important position after the 2015 elections in Bihar, adding that the Cabinet was formed with his assent. He said he could have done so in Punjab as well.
Mr Kishor said the fact that Jan Suraaj is having an impact is clear from the fact that the Nitish Kumar government increased the old age and disability pension, which had been untouched, from Rs 400 per month to Rs 1,100, because his party had said it should be Rs 2,000.
“Whether we win or not, nobody can deny that Jan Suraaj has emerged as a powerful force, as a voice of the people,” he asserted.
Alliance With NDA
Asked if he would form an alliance with the ruling NDA in Bihar, the Jan Suraaj party founder said he will not settle for one seat less than the total number in the state, which is 243. “So, that leaves no scope for any alliance with the BJP-led NDA or the opposition UPA. Whoever wants to merge their party can do so,” he said.
Mr Kishor said it has not yet been decided whether he will contest and, if so, from where. He added, however, that he was open to doing so and the decision would be taken by the party’s recently constituted executive committee.
Asked if the party was waiting for other parties to come out with their list of candidates so it could bring in people from other parties who did not get tickets, Mr Kishor said that would not happen. Jan Suraaj, he said, would release its list before other parties, closing the door to such candidates.
“We have over 12,000 people who have worked so hard to make Jan Suraaj what it is. If I tell them not to contest and give the ticket to some opportunist, then there will not be a bigger traitor than me,” he explained.
Electoral Roll Revision
On the controversy over the electoral roll being revised in Bihar, Mr Kishor said the Election Commission should do so, but only after making transparency the bedrock of the process.
“My view is that elections should be conducted according to the Constitution… But since the past few years, people’s confidence in the Election Commission of India has been eroding. And this is not without basis. Because, sometimes, it appears that what the Election Commission (EC) is doing is benefiting the ruling party,” the Jan Suraaj party founder said.
The stated objective of the revision of the roll – cleaning it, ensuring only eligible voters are on it, and no eligible person is left out – is laudable, he said.
“But suspicion arises because similar exercises were held in Maharashtra and Haryana last year and, since then, opposition parties – and especially Congress and Rahul Gandhi – have said that this helped the BJP. Lakhs of names of people who would not have voted for the BJP were cut, they have said. These are the allegations, which the Election Commission has dismissed, but has not given a credible answer to,” Mr Kishor alleged.
“So, if you want to do a revision of the roll in Bihar, there is no issue. But the process should be transparent. The Election Commission and its officials should explain why the current roll is being revised, whose names are being removed and why, and whether there will be an opportunity for them to appeal. The basis for the addition of names should also be made clear and, after all these processes, the revised electoral roll should be given to all stakeholders,” he said.
In Maharashtra, Mr Kishor alleged, 30-35 lakh new names were added, but the debate began only after elections. “The information should be given before the polls,” he said.
Chirag Paswan Impact
To a question on whether there will be an impact of Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas) chief and Union Minister Chirag Paswan’s statement that he will contest the Bihar elections, the Jan Suraaj Party founder said he does not think so.
“Chirag Paswan is an old friend of mine, but our politics are different. I like him because, unlike the others, he does not reduce the politics of Bihar to caste politics alone. But when he says he will contest the Bihar elections, is he quitting his Union minister post and resigning as an MP? That would make news. Otherwise, why will anyone take him seriously?” Mr Kishor asked.
“If I continued doing what I was doing and entered politics, would I be taken seriously? That is happening now because people are saying that I have left all my work, my family and my home to come serve Bihar,” he said.
