Prashant Kishor had gone to soak his hands in the student movement and got burnt. Opinion – prashant kishor bpsc student politics backfires on jan suraaj byelection performance opnm1

Undoubtedly, Prashant Kishore must have seen a good opportunity in connecting with the youth who were agitating on the streets of Patna. It would have seemed that if the youth suffering from unemployment would get support by coming out on the streets and supporting them, the difficulties in crossing the electoral hurdles would be reduced, but it seems that the bet has backfired.

Prashant Kishor has been accused of instigating the agitating candidates, and Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of the opposition in the Bihar Assembly, has accused him of hijacking the youth movement.

When Jan Suraj leader Prashant Kishore came to support the movement, there was a heated debate with the youth. And, there is also an allegation that when they saw the strict attitude of the police, they retreated before the water cannon and lathi charge. A video is also viral on social media, in which Prashant Kishore can be heard saying, ‘… I have to go home’.

However, correcting his mistake, the next day Prashant Kishor reached the hospital to meet the students injured in the police action – and also gave clarification.

Why is Prashant Kishor the target of students?

The youth of Bihar have been protesting since December 18 demanding the cancellation of the 70th BPSC preliminary examination. The ruckus has increased after the entry of Prashant Kishore in the movement on 29 December. Left student organization AISA has called for Bihar bandh on 30th December in protest against the police action.

The agitating youth are demanding that the examination be canceled and conducted again, and Prashant Kishore is also supporting this. It is said that on the request of Prashant Kishore, a protest march was taken out from Gandhi Maidan to the Chief Minister’s residence. After reaching JP Golambar, the agitators tried to move forward by breaking the barricades. Efforts were made by the police and administration to convince them, but they did not agree. Police also say that the movement took a new turn only at the behest of Prashant Kishore.

It is said that Prashant Kishore, who reached the protest site, had assured the protesters that if police action was taken, they would be the first to be lathicharged.

There was also a heated argument between Prashant Kishore and the agitators on the spot. Prashant Kishore said angrily to the arguing youth, ‘You are becoming too smart… If you want to stay here in the movement, then stay… otherwise go away…’

On not listening, Prashant Kishore said, talk politely, otherwise remain silent. After that, Prashant Kishore even said, you have asked for blankets from me… and you argue.

The agitating youth rejected Prashant Kishore’s claim at the same time. He said, no blanket has been asked from you. He said that they had ordered blankets by making donations.

If Prashant Kishore said about giving a blanket, the meaning is clear. Prashant Kishor was adding fuel to the fire of the movement. But things went out of hand, and the hand also got burnt in the fire of the movement.

A lot of efforts were made by the administration to convince, but no one was ready to listen. Later the police used water cannon and lathicharge was also done. However, the police are denying lathi charge.

Patna Central SP Sweety Sehrawat says, lathi charge did not happen… We told them to put their demands before us, we are ready for talks, but they remained adamant… There was a scuffle with the administration. In the end we were forced to use water cannon. No representative from their side came to meet… Prashant Kishore, who was leading the entire march, left after blocking the students at JP Golambar.

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has said that some people tried to mislead the movement. The B team of the government and BJP was set up to spoil the movement… When the students were being beaten, those who were saying that they would stand at the forefront, were the first ones to run away.

Police have registered an FIR against more than 600 people for unauthorized crowd gathering. The names of Prashant Kishore, his two bouncers, Jan Suraj Party President Manoj Bharti, coaching director R Mishra and Sujit Kumar are included in the FIR.

Students have been successful in union elections

When Prashant Kishor became the Vice President of JDU, Nitish Kumar had given him the responsibility of building the young JDU. Prashant Kishore had successfully completed his first assignment as JDU Vice President, but how he missed it now remains to be seen.

There was a lot of uproar in the student union of Patna University in 2018. There is a difference between the current movement and the assignment then. That was from Nitish Kumar’s side, this is against Nitish Kumar.

When Prashant Kishore came to meet the Vice Chancellor of Patna University during the student union elections, the students got wind of this. And, within no time, student leaders surrounded the Vice Chancellor’s residence. Prashant Kishore remained surrounded in the Vice Chancellor’s residence for hours. Later, with great difficulty, the police rescued Prashant Kishor with the help of sticks.

But the presence of Prashant Kishore had turned student politics in favor of the ruling JDU in Bihar. Prashant Kishor’s team was working for JDU’s student panel – and the result was that for the first time in Patna University Students Union, students – JDU Mohit Prakash won the election for president and Satyam Kumar won the election for treasurer.

Where did Prashant Kishore go wrong?

Jan Suraj’s work was going well in the by-elections held on four assembly seats in Bihar, where did Prashant Kishore go wrong?

Prashant Kishore had shown an example of his ability in the student union elections of Patna University, in which he was mostly successful. Be it the 2014 general elections, or the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections or subsequent election campaigns – but street politics is very difficult.

Actually, Prashant Kishor has also been running Jan Suraj’s campaign on the streets, but he is speaking among the people and expressing his views. Somehow they are contacting people and trying to explain their agenda.

Prashant Kishore has come to the front for the first time through Jan Suraj. Earlier he used to run campaigns with the help of big leaders, and was also successful. They are still using others’ shoulders, but sensing the possibility of police lathicharge, they also run away. This happens in many movements, but not in all.

If you start politics from the street, you have to face police lathicharge before becoming a leader. Even have to go to jail. Prashant Kishore’s politics is compared to Arvind Kejriwal, and he too has had to face jail. By the way, he has also been jailed on corruption charges.

There is a big difference between running an election campaign and taking to the streets to do politics. Prashant Kishore must have become better about this now. Even if we ignore the words of political opponents, the anger of BPSC candidates is not giving good signals.