The idiosyncratic talent that binds two highly ambitious individuals, Prashant Kishor and Arvind Kejriwal, is their tactical shrewdness, an essential qualification to enter politics in India.
Arvind Kejriwal used this talent and rode on Anna Hazare’s anti-corruption movement and formed the Aam Aadmi Party in 2012, promising clean politics and good governance free from illegitimate money, liquor and caste factors during elections. He became the Chief Minister of Delhi in 2013 for a brief period and then again in 2015 for a full 5-year term with a landslide victory. He projected himself as a catalyst of change in Indian politics and proved that a common man could fight an election and win. He broke the belief that it is not necessary to be rich or criminal in order to become a politician. His educational credentials, being an IITian, added to his charisma and attracted youth who started asking questions rather than being silent. People supported him because they thought of him as the real-life version of actor Anil Kapoor in the movie Nayak.
In his first term, people saw him as a politician with a difference who generated the faith quotient amongst the educated class and the common man in the street with his simple demeanor. His early initiatives on mohalla clinics, health, and education attracted worldwide attention. The underprivileged and the middle class of neighbouring Noida started migrating to Delhi for better affordability due to freebies offered by his government. I recollect some of my friends staying in Ghaziabad who moved to Delhi and told me that there is no point in paying thousands for rents, hospital, schools, and security, and yet live in the notorious load-shedding regime of Akhilesh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh at that time.
His winning the second term in 2020 with a near landslide majority emboldened him and he started feeling invincible and stopped seeing himself as any other ordinary Chief Minister of India. He projected and overrated himself as the prospective Prime Ministerial candidate worthy of challenging PM Modi, forgetting several other equally ambitious contenders in the opposition parties, including the scion of the Gandhi dynasty, who were already in the race. He started living in the belief that he can outmanoeuvre opposition parties with his tactical shrewdness by making himself an acceptable PM candidate by manipulating individual egos of the regional leaders and their common hatred for Congress; maybe he was inspired by H D Deve Gowda, who became Prime Minister of a coalition government in 1996 with only 16 MPs!
But then, as the saying goes, “Vinaash Kale Viprit Buddhi”, greed and ambition overtook his intellect, exposing Kejriwal’s true character. When a person’s downfall is near, his intellect also becomes corrupted, and he is unable to distinguish between right and wrong. In his yearning to become the Prime Minister, he indulged in all kinds of nefarious activities and got involved in scams like liquor and sheesh mahal, the two main issues that caught the imagination of the masses, leading to his and the party’s loss in the 2025 Delhi elections. He who rides the horse of greed will arrive at the destination of shame. How true!
Against this background, where people feel deceived by politicians like Arvind Kejriwal, another ambitious individual, Prashant Kishor, made his entry into Bihar politics with a promise to transform the lives of the people in Bihar. He formed the Jan Suraaj Party in 2024, which is contesting on 238 of the 243 seats in the ongoing Bihar Vidhan Sabha elections.
During his yatras across the heart of Bihar, a state steeped in history, culture, and a myriad socio-political challenges, he has been promising the people everything under the Sun. Like Kejriwal, he is also advocating clean politics, good governance and transparency with an added component of social justice and youth empowerment. He is vehemently stressing that Bihar deserves more attention, resources, and opportunities. And above all, better leaders, who are not dynasts or criminals (Bahubalis), political chameleons who change their party affiliations very often or venal politicians who loot public money for their private interests.
But the question is, do people in Bihar believe Prashant Kishor after witnessing the fraudulent and appeasement politics of Kejriwal? I doubt. Unlike Kejriwal, who came to the political scene with a larger-than-life image as a political and social activist, known for his contribution to RTI after quitting his job as an upright income tax officer and his association with Anna Hazare, Prashant Kishor is a businessman who had earlier worked in the US on an UN-funded program focused on public health. He became famous as a political strategist after he worked for Narendra Modi in his campaign during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and then with Nitish Kumar in Bihar in 2015. Both yielded positive results. But his strategy for himself failed when he tried his luck in politics, later in 2015, when he joined Janata Dal (U) as its National Vice President under Nitish Kumar. It was a total disaster.
Is Prashant Kishor an overrated strategist? Read on and decide yourself based on a few successes attributed to him: i) In 2014, Narendra Modi was at his peak of popularity and riding a country-wide anti-corruption wave against Congress, ii) In 2015, Nitish Kumar in Bihar was very popular for his welfare and pro-women schemes and anti-Lalu Yadav jungle raj, iii) In 2021, DMK in Tamil Nadu was already in good contention with the local population, iv) In 2021, Mamata Banerjee was already a popular and strong leader having good organization strength and booth management.
The point I am trying to make is that Prashant Kishor has never been tested in real challenging conditions as a consultant or a strategist. I am sure if the BJP had asked for his services for Tamil Nadu or Kerala elections, he would have dropped the offer like a hot potato. Betting on winning horses is no strategy. Prashant Kishor has acquired an image as a professional businessman who wants to earn a hefty fee for which he will go to any extent to win elections for his clients, notwithstanding different political ideologies of the BJP, Congress or Communists. This is not good for democracy.
Now that he has given up his consultancy profession and has jumped into the fray by contesting the Bihar elections reveals his political ambitions and his desire to be in the limelight and be relevant in Indian politics in whatever role he fits into. His strong personality traits of being numero uno and be important resemble very much like Arvind Kejriwal, otherwise, who would have dared to play a major role in forging Nitish Kumar JD(U) and Lalu’s RJD alliance to keep BJP out of power in Bihar in 2015, immediately after his famous fallout with Narendra Modi and Amit Shah following BJP victory in 2014!
Only time will tell whether Prashant Kishor will go Kejriwal’s way or look for greener pastures by joining hands with people occupying corridors of power. Nothing is blasphemous in politics. What one needs is a thick skin. After all, in a democracy, you vote for the candidate you dislike the least.
