"Yes, My Party Is A Vote-Cutter": Prashant Kishor Exclusive On Bihar Polls

Bihar is poised to see a new era of leaders - with Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav ageing and Ram Vilas Paswan and Sushil Kumar Modi dead - and his party, Jan Suraaj, will either get less than 10 seats in the upcoming Assembly elections or so many that it will be hard to count, political strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor has said. 

In an exclusive interview to NDTV on Friday, the Jan Suraaj founder said there is truth when people call his party vote 'katwa' (vote-cutter) but it won't do so to the BJP-JDU alliance or the RJD-Congress one, but to all of them. His aim, Mr Kishor said, is to make Biharis proud to belong to the state and said that when a person from the state is slapped in Maharashtra or abused elsewhere, it's a slap on the face of everyone from the state. 

"When you come here in November to cover the elections and talk about the results, you will probably be telling the country about the most unprecedented results of this era. Because the people of Bihar would have chosen a new party and a new system of change would be beginning in the state," Mr Kishor said in Hindi.

"The Bihar that people consider to be divided on caste lines, that people consider illiterate and stupid, the Bihar that people call Bihari and abuse, that same Bihar will show the whole country in November how ordinary people here created a political system which does not belong to any caste, family or person. It belongs to all the people of Bihar, who are coming together for the betterment of their children and themselves, and are creating a new democratic party," he stressed.

Putting on his political strategist hat, Mr Kishor said 60% of people in Bihar want change and that they are fed up of Lalu Yadav and Nitish Kumar ruling over the state for the past 30-35 years. Asked whether his party would be able to deal with caste politics, which plays a huge role in the state, the Jan Suraaj party founder said caste is a factor across the country. 

"Caste is a reality in Bihar, but it is not the only reality. And the same is true for the whole country," he said.

Vote-Cutting

On chatter that his party would give tickets to people who have been denied the chance to contest elections by other parties and that Jan Suraaj will be a vote-cutter, Mr Kishor ruled one out, but not the other. 

Jan Suraaj, he said, will declare its candidates first and 90% of them will be people who are contesting elections for the first time, so the possibility of giving tickets to disgruntled leaders from other parties is next to nil. 

On vote-cutting, he said, "You are accepting that votes will be cut. Okay, I am saying myself that my party will be a vote-cutter. But you said people are saying it's not clear who this will affect. Let me tell you, we will cut votes of both (the ruling alliance and the opposition grouping) and cut so much that both will be finished... No one can say who will lose because of Jan Suraaj and who will benefit. The loss will be to the NDA and the RJD, and the people of Bihar will benefit," he claimed.

On whether Jan Suraaj will support one of the alliances, Mr Kishor said that won't be done, neither before nor after the elections. 

"Jan Suraaj ya to arsh pe ya farsh pe (it will either do spectacularly well or very badly). I am ready to accept that, despite all my efforts and the expectations of crores of people, it is possible that Jan Suraaj will not get even 10 (of the state's 243) seats. But if people have understood what we are trying to do, Jan Suraaj will get so many seats that you will not be able to count them. The system will start changing in Bihar," he underscored. 

Bihar Lagging Behind

Alluding to people from other places being assaulted in Maharashtra for not speaking Marathi, Mr Kishor said it pains him to see that despite the talent of its people, Bihar is among the lowest-ranked states in India on several parameters. 

"You may be a big journalist, but when Biharis are being abused, so are you. When people are slapping in Maharashtra, you and I are getting slapped too, and so is an IAF officer in Bihar and a daily labourer. Because no one is singling out someone for abuse, they are abusing Biharis," the Jan Suraaj party founder said. 

On prohibition, Mr Kishor was clear that he wants it gone from the state and said Jan Suraaj would lift it within an hour of forming the government.

Because of the poorly implemented ban on liquor sale and consumption, he said, "The Bihar government and the people of Bihar are facing a loss of at least Rs 20,000 crore every year. And where is this money going? This money is going to the alcohol mafia, to corrupt officers. And that is why crime is increasing. In every village, unemployed children are being given bikes and weapons. And these are the people that are committing crimes."

End Of The Road For Nitish Kumar?

Prashant Kishor worked closely with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and also held the post of national vice-president in the Janata Dal United. When he was asked whether Mr Kumar's announcement of 125 free units of electricity would help him in the Bihar elections, Mr Kishor didn't mince words and said nothing could help the chief minister anymore, throwing in a 'paltu ram'  (flip-flopper) dig for good measure.

"Nothing will work for Nitish Kumar because Nitish Kumar is not even in a position to work for himself now. Mentally and physically, he is not the person he was. He is not in a state to run the government, which is now being done by four to five corrupt ministers and four to five corrupt advisers. The approach of these people is to loot as much as they can," Mr Kishor said. 

"On the issue of electricity, Nitish ji has been saying for 20 years that it should be cheap, not free. Now, Nitish Kumar is known as 'paltu ram' (because of his support to different parties) and he is flip-flopping on the few issues that were remaining as well... He used to say people want cheap electricity and continuous electricity," he added. 

Asked whether Nitish Kumar would be chief minister if the NDA got the numbers to form the government in Bihar, the Jan Suraaj party founder said that was not possible. He insisted that the NDA would not win enough seats and, even if they hypothetically did, the JDU chief would not get the top job. 

"If they wanted to make Nitish Kumar the chief minister, either Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP's two biggest leaders, would have said so... It is clear Nitish Kumar will not remain the chief minister after the elections," he said, adding that the JDU itself was breaking up and people were leaving to join other parties. 

Electoral Roll Revision

To a question on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, which has proved to be very controversial, the Jan Suraaj party chief said the Election Commission is doing a "wrong thing in collusion with the government". 

Pointing out that the Lok Sabha elections were held using the old list just a year-and-a-half ago and those who are supporting the revision exercise are saying there are Nepalis and Bangladeshis on it, he said the Election Commission would then have to admit the election was tainted. 

If not, he said, the argument could be that Nepalis and Bangladeshis made their way to Bihar after the Lok Sabha elections, which would reflect badly on the Centre and state administrations, both of which have an NDA government in power.  

"If you want a proper voter list, start with the 2014 one as the base, remove the names of those who have died and have left the state permanently and add those who have turned 18. If you are doing anything beyond this, you are definitely trying to help the government... The people that want change in Bihar the most are migrants and the government does not want them to vote because they know they will vote against the NDA," Mr Kishor claimed.

"The government wants their names removed and they know migrants will not be able to come now and get the revision done... But the Election Commission does not know the people of Bihar very well. The people of Bihar are very political, they will follow the rules and get their names added to the list. They will produce the required documents. Every voter will vote," he emphasised.

New Dawn?

The former political strategist said four big faces dominated Bihar for 30 years - RJD chief Lalu Yadav, JDU chief Nitish Kumar, Ram Vilas Paswan, who was the head of the Lok Janshakti Party, and Sushil Kumar Modi, who was the BJP's face in the state. Of these, Mr Paswan and Mr Modi have died and Mr Yadav and Mr Kumar are now old and their physical and mental state is not such that they can be very active in politics, he said.

The people of Bihar, the Jan Suraaj founder said, will decide who will be their new leader, but the state will get new leadership regardless. 

Asked whether he saw any potential in Tejashwi Yadav, Mr Kishor said, "Tejashvi Yadav is Lalu Yadav's son and, because of that, he is an RJD leader. This is his identity. Now, whether he has potential or not, that is for the people of Bihar to decide."

And Chirag Paswan?

"Chirag is Ram Vilas Paswan's son. He is running the party that his father started here. He is an MP from Bihar and is a minister at the Centre. He does politics from Bihar, but not the politics of Bihar. There is a difference between the two. When he leaves the post of an MP, leaves the Union cabinet, and does the politics of Bihar, then he will be welcomed," he said.

On BJP leader Samrat Choudhary, who is a deputy chief minister of Bihar, Mr Kishor said he is not very relevant. 

Journey So Far, Family Life

Asked to introduce himself to people who may not know him beyond his work as a political strategist, Mr Kishor said he was born in a village in Bihar. His grandfather was a labourer, his father was a government doctor. 

Mr Kishor said he studied in a government school and then at the Patna Science College.

"I was working on malnutrition when I met Narendra Modi in 2011. I then entered the political field, worked there for 10 years. I worked with Modi ji for 3 years and then in Bihar, Punjab, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Delhi. I got to work with leaders across the spectrum and got some success too," he recalled.

"Then I felt that I wasn't being able to have a big impact on society. I was changing the lives of leaders and helping parties, but not changing the lives of ordinary people. I decided to stop what I was doing in 2021 and, after exploring all options - including working with the Congress or AAP - I decided I would work for my home state of Bihar," the Jan Suraaj party founder said.

"I have a wife who is a doctor and lives in Delhi. I have a son who is in Class 10 and lives in a hostel," he added.