Prashant Kishor Casts Bihar Poll Narrative: From Identity to Idea
Bihar Elections 2025 amid Prashant Kishor's debut in politics! (Images X.com)
As Modi and Tejashwi lock horns in a high-decibel campaign, Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj movement quietly transforms Bihar’s election discourse—shifting focus from identity politics to jobs, governance, and local issues.
By MANISH ANAND
Patna, October 25, 2025 — As Bihar enters the heated phase of its 2025 Assembly election campaign, familiar political heavyweights — Prime Minister Narendra Modi and opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav — dominate the rally circuit. Yet, beneath the roar of crowds and the clash of slogans, a quieter revolution is underway, reshaping the state’s political grammar. The architect of this shift is none other than Prashant Kishor, the political strategist-turned-politician, whose Jan Suraaj movement has injected new life into Bihar’s electoral landscape.
For the first time in decades, Bihar’s poll narrative is no longer chained to the rigid binaries of caste and religion. Kishor’s grassroots campaign — rooted in local issues, jobs, education, and governance — has challenged the established political order. Even if Jan Suraaj fails to win a significant number of seats, its ideological footprint on Bihar’s political discourse is unmistakable.
In the rallies so far, the contrast is evident. While Tejashwi Yadav has centered his message on employment generation and reversing migration by promising industries and food-processing hubs in every district, the BJP’s top brass — including Modi and Amit Shah — have leaned heavily on symbolism and national issues, from invoking Karpoori Thakur’s legacy to attacking the Congress. The attempt is clear: to recast the state election as a Modi vs. Rahul Gandhi contest, rather than a Tejashwi vs. Nitish one.
However, Kishor’s presence has forced all sides to reimagine their political playbook. His meticulous state-wide “padyatras” have brought village-level governance failures to the fore — from crumbling schools and public health gaps to the disillusionment of youth seeking stable employment. As a result, both the NDA and Mahagathbandhan have been compelled to speak the language of vikas (development) rather than varg (caste).
In this sense, Kishor has done for Bihar what ULFA once did for Assam’s politics — pushed local, tangible issues into the mainstream. His insistence on clean, competent candidates — doctors, educators, professionals — has also cracked open Bihar’s cynical belief that “educated people avoid politics.” Even if they don’t win, they’ve shifted the aspiration of what Bihar’s politics can look like.
Political observers estimate that Jan Suraaj could secure 6–8% of the total vote share — a small but potentially decisive slice in a state where the 2020 NDA-Mahagathbandhan contest was decided by just 11,000 votes. Much of this new vote bank, analysts suggest, may come at the BJP’s expense, especially in urban and semi-urban constituencies.
Kishor himself insists he has no personal ambition to become Chief Minister. Yet his movement’s real victory may already be unfolding — in the way Bihar’s politicians are now forced to talk about schools instead of slogans, law and order instead of loyalty, empowerment instead of entitlement.
Even without contesting a single seat himself, Prashant Kishor has succeeded in turning Bihar’s 2025 election into something rare in the state’s history — a battle of ideas rather than identities.
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