Bihar: Prashant Kishor and Kanhaiya Kumar may join hands

The month-long election to Bihar Assembly likely to be held from October 21 to November 20 is pregnant with the possibility of former JNU students' leader Kanhaiya Kumar and poll strategist Prashant Kishor coming together to challenge the JD(U)-BJP combination led by Nitish Kumar.

With RJD led by Lalu Yadav’s son Tejashvi not showing keenness to bring the opposition parties and forces together under one umbrella, they will prove to be the potent force to challenge the manoeuvrings of Nitish-Narendra Modi. The anathema of Tejashvi towards Kanhaiya is an open secret. Kanhaiya would have won the Lok Sabha election if the RJD had shown pragmatism instead of pursuing a dogmatic political line laced with caste hatred. In the present situation, the evidence is not visible that RJD leadership has amended its approach towards Kanhaiya. In the past RJD on some occasions had working relations with CPI, but the RJD leadership is not ready to relent with Kanhaiya appearing as the face of the energised CPI.

In view of the impending election Yatra politics is taking off in Bihar. The Yatra politics was started by Nitish Kumar with his Harit Bihar mission in December and January. He had organised a state-level human chain, but his endeavours miserably failed to win over the mind and heart of the people. They looked at his move merely as a step for an image makeover. His move also sent the message that he was desperately striving to refurbish his political fortune.

Yatras are a mechanism to gauge the mood of the people. But the fact remains that the yatras undertaken by Nitish since 2005 have not helped him. In recent weeks launching of two yatras is much-talked developments in the political and social circles. Jan Gana Manch yatra has already been launched by former JNU student union’s chief Kanhaiya Kumar and the second My Bihar by Prashant Kishor is to be launched soon.

Kanhaiya Kumar's Bihar Jan Gan Man Yatra is also being compared with Nitish Kumar's 2005 Nyay Yatra. Kumar's rallies are receiving a huge response which was not seen at any time in the past. What has given much wider response to his yatra has been his refusal to submit to the threats from religious bigots and repressive feudal elements. His state-wide yatra has brought in focus the importance of ground-level politics in Bihar.

Though Kanhaiya had contested the Lok Sabha polls from Begusarai against BJP's Giriraj Singh and lost the election his launching of Jan Gan Man yatra is a move for the resurgence of youth power. He is a CPI leader but has not been entirely dependent on his party for the success of his programme. It is a known fact that the CPI does not have an organisational apparatus to pose any serious challenge to Nitish Kumar. To emerge as a force to challenge the hegemony of Nitish-BJP combine, Kanhaiya has to forge an alliance with a person like Prashant Kishor.

Kanhaiya having personal charisma and mass appeal could conveniently combine with the electoral strategy of Prashant Kishor to defeat the Nitish led coalition. Prashant Kishor was the brain nuancing election strategy of Jagan Mohan. His Praja Sankalp Yatra brought a seemingly unassailable N Chandrababu Naidu, who had begun setting his eye on New Delhi. At Kishore’s directive, he too had brought out yatra.

bachao, desh bachao" (save citizenship, save the country) in Patna on February 27. His convoy was attacked at least eight times by the BJP and RSS supporters and activists throughout the state. People returning from his rallies admit that he has the political acumen to connect with his audience, which most of the leaders lack. There is little doubt that some political observers in Bihar already see him as one of the future leader of Bihar.

Joining hands by Kanhaiya and Prashant Kishor will open up a new window to view the politics and election in Bihar. While Kanhaiya will establish connections with the masses Prashant Kishor will build an organisation of 1 crore people by June this year. He announced 'Baat Bihar Ki' programme to reach out to each of over 45,000 villages which will be voting for 8,406 panchayats later this year.

Kishor’s observation about Kanhaiya at his press meet is quite significant. He described him "He's A Bihar Boy". This speaks loud about his approach towards him. Kishor clarified that he is not forming a party, but he welcomes everyone who wants to work with him. He said: " I have met Kanhaiya before, he is Bihar's boy (Bihar ka ladka), he wants the development of Bihar. It doesn't matter if I work with him or not. My point is I want development in Bihar and I am not going anywhere, I will be here and work with like-minded dedicated people. I am not here to help others win elections."

If the sources are to be believed the new combination may have some discussion with the new party Indian Young Party to be formally launched on March 2 in Patna by the former activists of the JP movement.

With about eight months to go for the Bihar assembly election, the political circles in the state are jostling to figure out the name of the challenger to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Bihar’s opposition parties are similarly locked in a quarrel and are yet to decide on their chief ministerial candidate. The Congress too has sensed that Kanhaiya brings not just the Left with him but smaller parties like HAM, RLSP and VIP as well. Nevertheless, confusion has crept in the political circle with the RJD announcing its intention to contest at least 150 of 243 seats and projecting Tejashwi Yadav as CM’s face. On their part, the Congress leaders are in a fix and Bihar unit has told the party high command that they cannot win under him.