For more than a decade, Prashant Kishor built his reputation as India’s backstage magician — the strategist who shaped the victories of Narendra Modi, Nitish Kumar and Mamata Banerjee. His shift from strategy rooms to electoral politics created enormous expectations. Yet, Jan Suraaj failed to translate high visibility into votes in Bihar. The setback is not about one man or one party; it reflects a deeper truth about Indian politics: strategy alone cannot substitute for sentiment, mass mobilisation or historical momentum. Even renowned political thinker Yogendra Yadav, despite immense credibility, faced similar failure when he left AAP and launched Swaraj India. India rarely rewards new parties that lack an emotional wave or a rooted social base.
A State Without Anger: Bihar Offered No Wave, No Crisis, No Emotional Vacancy
Every successful new party in India has emerged during turbulence. The Telugu Desam Party was born in 1983 amid a surge of regional pride. Assam’s Asom Gana Parishad rose from the heat and emotion of the Assam Agitation. Much later, the Aam Aadmi Party emerged out of the nationwide anti-corruption movement that electrified urban India.
These parties were not crafted in conference rooms; they were born on the streets, from anger, identity and collective frustration.
Bihar in 2025 offered none of these preconditions. The political atmosphere was stable, even predictable. There was no anti-incumbency wave, no major public resentment and no social fury seeking a channel. Voters continued to rely on traditional caste, community and party loyalties. Despite administrative shortcomings, Nitish Kumar’s government did not provoke the kind of public anger that fuels the rise of a new political alternative.
Political scientist Rahul Verma summed it precisely: voters saw no crisis, which meant they felt no need to shift loyalty. In such a steady climate, Jan Suraaj, regardless of Kishor’s padyatras or village meetings, never appeared to be a credible alternative.
This is the same structural barrier Yogendra Yadav faced when he formed Swaraj India. Without a triggering crisis or people-led momentum, even respected intellectuals cannot manufacture a wave.
Why Strategy Failed: Jan Suraaj Lacked Emotion, Identity and Grassroots Ownership
New political parties in India succeed only when powered by emotion, identity or movement-driven legitimacy. The TDP had N. T. Rama Rao, whose cultural charisma ignited pride. AGP carried the emotional force of a mass movement. AAP rode on the moral storm of the anti-corruption uprising. These parties were not mere organisations; they were expressions of public emotion.
Jan Suraaj, in contrast, appeared like a well-designed political experiment. It did not originate in a people’s struggle, nor was it tied to a specific identity group. It was admired for its planning, but admiration does not equal electoral ownership.
As Saurabh Raj of the Indian School of Democracy noted, Jan Suraaj looked like “an intellectual and strategic project”rather than a lived, emotional movement. Voters saw Kishor as a brilliant strategist, but not as someone who emerged from their pain or represented their identity. In Bihar’s emotion-driven and socially layered political arena, a party born from design rather than passion struggled to find a foothold.
This is the same challenge Yogendra Yadav’s Swaraj India confronted. Despite impeccable credentials, his party lacked a mass sentiment or a lived emotional base. Bihar reminded us once again: politics rewards emotional resonance, not intellectual architecture.
The Historical Pattern: Two Types of New Parties Survive — Jan Suraaj Fit Neither
A study of four decades shows a clear pattern.
Since TDP’s rise in 1983, almost every successful new party in India belongs to one of two types:
- Breakaway factions inheriting strong vote banks — like Trinamool Congress or Biju Janata Dal.
- Parties born from mass crises or movements — like AGP or AAP.
Jan Suraaj belonged to neither category.
It did not split from an existing party, so it inherited no ready-made vote base.
It was not born from anger, agitation or crisis, so it carried no emotional momentum.
Bihar’s voters, content with stability, saw no urgent need for a new political vehicle. Without the wind of sentiment behind it, even Kishor’s sophisticated planning could not lift the party off the ground.
Politics Runs on Emotion, Not Only Intelligent Design
Prashant Kishor’s influence on Indian politics is undeniable. But Bihar’s verdict reinforces a timeless truth: data, discipline and strategy can sharpen a wave — they cannot create one out of calm waters.
Jan Suraaj was ambitious, but it was not born from the heart of Bihar’s people. It entered through planning, not through a people’s uprising. In a state where voters felt no crisis and saw no compelling reason for change, the party remained a well-intentioned idea, not a natural choice.
Yogendra Yadav’s failed experiment offers a parallel lesson: credibility, intellect and political morality matter, but without a mass emotional current, new parties do not survive in India.
A seasoned journalist with over 30 years of rich and diverse experience in print and electronic media, Prabha’s professional stints include working with Sahara English Magazine, Pioneer and JAIN TV and All India Radio. She has also been writing in Pioneer. She has also produced several documentary films through her self-owned production house Gajpati Communications. She is also the Station Director of Aligarh-based FM Radio Station, and the General Secretary of WADA NGO.
