E-Paper
Prashant Kishor questions ‘father-like’ Nitish Kumar, keeps his card close to his chest
Prashant Kishor, in his interaction with media, seemed to question Nitish Kumar’s style of governance and ideological dalliance in an apparent bid to build a new narrative without disclosing his political leaning.
Poll strategist Prashant Kishor, who was sacked from the Janata Dal(United) last month, on Tuesday refrained from making any personal attack on his former party boss and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.
But Kishor seemed to question his style of governance and ideological dalliance in an apparent bid to build a new narrative without disclosing his political leaning.
In his first interaction with media in Patna since he was expelled from the JD(U), Kishor said he was not looking to get any alliance to win or lose elections. He spoke about a campaign to reach out to youth in the state to build a movement—Baat Bihar Ki—instead.
“I will work to prepare the youth who could take Bihar forward, those who had the dream to change it to be among the top 10 states in the next 10 years. I have a long-term and medium-term plan starting with ‘Baat Bihar Ki’ on February 20, a programme to involve 1000 committed youth from across the state,” he added.
Kishor said all those who want to contribute to Bihar development and have a blueprint for the next 10 years were welcome, including Nitish Kumar and BJP’s Sushil Kumar Modi.
“Around 2.93 lakh youth have already registered with ‘Baat Bihar Ki’, which includes the 1.25 lakh those who had registered when I was with the JD-U and 30% are active BJP workers,” he said.
“By March 20, we have a target to take the membership to past 10 lakh. By June, it should reach one crore, more than the 90 lakh that the biggest political party claims in Bihar,” he added.
It seemed like an indication that he was out to flex his muscles in the rough and tumble of Bihar politics without opening his cards at this stage.
Kishor said his main focus was to pursue his programme on the development agenda in Bihar, which could build a narrative to make people vote by rising above caste and creed.
“Powerful leadership and positive agenda of development can make the difference. Justifying oneself by drawing comparisons with the past will not take Bihar forward,” he added, without elaborating on the leadership he had in mind.
He also had an explanation on his “hop and skip” strategy.
“My political ideology is egalitarian humanism rooted in Gandhian philosophy. I have my own thought process and I cannot be defined by Nitish Kumar or anyone else. I have worked with many leaders and parties opposed to the BJP after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections,” he said.
Differences with Nitish Kumar
Prashant Kishor also spoke about his relationship with his former boss, Nitish Kumar, and for the first time gave his reason for the fallout with the JD(U) chief.
“I have been with Nitishji since 2014 when he was left with just two MPs but commanded huge respect in my eyes. He treated me like his son and I treated him like a father. If he wants to be happy by floating a lie about me, which I refuted the same day through my tweet, I gift him that happiness,” he said.
“But the fact is that he cannot remain with Godse supporters and still claim to be championing Gandhi’s ideology,” he said referring to Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse.
Kishor said even during the Lok Sabha election last year, he had differences with Kumar over his ‘ideological positioning’ as well his ‘positioning in the alliance’ and that the two often talked about it.
“There is a huge difference between Nitish Kumar of 2005 and 2019. For me, Nitish Kumar with two MPs in 2014 commanded far more respect. He is a CM representing over 10 crore Bihar people. He cannot be a manager just to remain in power,” he added.
On governance
Kishor said Bihar needed a leader “who could speak his mind, have the vision to take the state among the top 10 front ranking states and one who does not make compromises for chair and a few seats”.
“Had there been development in Bihar, one could have found reasons behind the compromises Nitishji made. Did Bihar get special status? Nitish requested with folded hands before the PM for central university status to Patna University. But that was also rejected,” he said.
“Trying to stay relevant by drawing comparisons with the previous RJD regime is not what people of Bihar want. If development is really happening in Bihar, why does the state still remain at the bottom of the ladder on all parameters of the human index?” he asked as he furnished statistics.
Kishor said Bihar’s position remained the same today as it was in 2005 on basic development parameters of education, per capita income, per capita power consumption, poverty, stunting etc.
“True, there has been development. But in terms of speed and dimension, it is not what the people want. In education, he ensured cycles, uniforms and buildings but could not provide good education. Nitishji cites budget size,” he added.
He also took a dig at the prohibition in the state, throwing a poser if it was really working on the ground.
On CAA-NPR-NRC
Kishor reiterated the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), National Population Register (NPR) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) would not be implemented in Bihar in continuation.
“I welcome Nitish Kumar and Ramvilas Paswan’s statements. They have also raised questions about certain aspects of NPR. As far as CAA is concerned, I will accept it the day anyone got citizenship under the Act,” he added.
