PK’s Perfect Storm: The Mistakes That Sank Jan Suraaj
Bihar Politics | Jan Suraaj | Padyatra | Migration | Corruption | Issue-Based Politics | Nonconformist | Election Strategist | Indian Politics | New Political Alternative | Prashant Kishor
One of the Delhi-based journalists who met Prashant Kishor(PK) in the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election said that the campaigner of change was keen to listen feedback and criticism rather than small talk and flattery. The newest hope of Bihar himself said, time and again, that he was open to criticism, rather harsh ones.
So here are a few pointers to the hope in a hurry:
The Foot March is Futile Now
In future, PK shall avoid marching as it’s no longer serving the purpose. Foot march, Padyatra, is now a fashion in Indian politics. People have become accustomed to it and villagers treat it like annual mela- circus, that comes once in five years. In my ebook, I had appreciated the march but now there is no need to resume it for the left-over villages.
In the tsunami of digital influencers and the 2-minute instant noodles celebrities, importance has shifted from individual to a game-changer idea. If the idea is arresting the fleeting attention of the Generation Z and Millennials, they will respond, definitely, otherwise, no one is bigger than the generation in their own eyes and mind.
Communication is Cheap Now
Communication gadgets are so low-priced now a days that those who can’t afford a floor and roof to sleep, enjoy roadside free pavement bed while browsing fashionable social media accounts while trending the hashtags originating from New York and Los Angeles. Back in 2005, I myself have seen, how Bluetooth was used by migrant workers in remote villages of Bihar.
Since communication medium is low-cost and easily available, reaching to the last individual and the last mile is no more a challenge. So instead of bombarding voters with torrent of electoral messages, the hidden aspiration of Biharis shall focus on building Jan Suraaj organization on the administrative centres of Bihar as follows:
Divisions: 9 | Districts: 38 | Sub-divisions: 101 | Blocks: 534
PK shall focus on the organizational structure based on the administrative centres instead of walking, exerting and exhausting his body, mind, resources and man power.
Each block shall have a dedicated, local and loyal leader who is ideologically driven rather than easily swayed by caste equation, muscle and money power.
PK shall know that BJP is banking upon the organizational structure of RSS, which is 100 years old. And RSS is relying on the identity politics of 351+ years. How come the hurried soul claimed 150+ seats in the Bihar Election 2025 when he himself was saying that his main opponent was NDA(the combined might of BJP and RSS)?
Avoiding Media Enjoyment
Media hysteria is just a bubble. It may work in metropolitan cities but definitely does not work in the traditional villages. I have seen, how PK was everywhere from second to the last week of September. But He started sliding down from early October as other players entered into the arena of media management.
If you fish out the old YouTube videos of the situational critics of the wounded tiger, you would be surprised to find that they were singing PK-tune in September. Even seasonal journalists got overwhelmed with such media flimflam.
Fighting Election
PK has wasted a lot of time in appearing in media interviews. He could easily have saved time to campaign in any constituency for himself and for others. A wounded warrior is more honourable than a fled commander. If PK had focused on fighting the election than appearing in every interview, then he definitely would have found time to fight election from any constituency. Not fighting the election sent a wrong message all across India—not only in Bihar.
Personality Cult
In a democracy, it’s too dangerous to build a party around one individual. That’s the first alphabet of fascism. The data cruncher turned social activist shall avoid the enigma of leader worship. There shall be a galaxy of leaders in the party and all of them shall appear in the media, as and when such need arises. One-man show is a sign of insecurity of the top leadership and PK is too big to indulge in such hero worship.
Overconfidence is a Sign of Immaturity
What was the need and hurry to claim astronomical figure like above 150 or getting a mandate to change the establish system of Bihar? It’s a cheap way of getting ahead in the narrative of bubble manufactured by the artificial media hype.
Why the Fake News Peddler was Given Importance in the Party?
What was the need to give importance to a fake news peddler? What was his contribution in Bihar except uploading substandard videos on a fabricated YouTube channel. Didn’t PK spoil his and Jan Suraaj image by associating with a known wholesaler of forged news and cheap attention grabber with zero contribution in Bihar’s politics and society?
A few Immediate Steps PK Shall Take to Prepare Jan Suraaj for Future Challenges
Minimize media appearance: Let the other party officials take care of interviews, press conference and news bite
He shall focus on building organization from the scratch. There shall be 534 block offices of the party all over Bihar—as per the administrative data, above.
Publish a white paper on Bihar’s socio, economic, educational and health status-quo. Let the statistics of truth shall reach every block-level head of the party.
Why PK Takes so Much Pressure on Himself?
Jahnavi Das, wife of PK, in a brief media appearance(less than 5 minutes) with Barkha Dutt, said that PK was workaholic. In my views, this is not cool. There must be a work-life balance as life is above everything else, including big dream and self-taken responsibility. If you can’t balance life with work then none will be achieved to the fulfilled level.
Despite above criticism, PK is a beam of hope for Bihar and India—if he modifies the way of working. I have characterised his personality in this brief ebook, The PK Pivot: The Bihari Stride for Bihar Spring. You will learn a lot about the young leader who is shaping the political consciousness of India.
💐🙏🌹 Read more of my work at https://zarionzory.substack.com
This article was originally published on Medium
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