Prashant Kishor’s Bihar Faceplant: The Political Strategist Who Couldn’t Strategise His Own Win


Prashant Kishor entered Bihar with the swagger of a man who had helped script the biggest victories of the decade — Modi’s 2014 wave, Nitish’s 2015 comeback, Mamata’s Bengal surge.
But the moment he stopped whispering in the ears of powerful leaders and stepped onto the stage himself, the myth evaporated.

Because Prashant Kishor the strategist and Prashant Kishor the politician are two entirely different realities — and Bihar exposed that difference with surgical brutality.

1. Great Strategist, Non-existent Politician

As a consultant, PK is brilliant:
he manipulates data, messaging, booth management, optics, media narrative — all from behind the curtain.

But politics does not reward invisibility.
It rewards charisma, emotional resonance, and ground loyalty — things he simply doesn’t have.

You can design the circus tent.
But stepping into the ring with the lions is a different game.


2. Strategy ≠ Mass Appeal

Helping someone else win and convincing people to vote for you are unrelated skills.

For Modi, Nitish, Mamata — PK could craft the message.
For himself — he had no message voters cared about.

Voters trust leaders who bleed on the battlefield.
Not consultants who enter politics like a career upgrade.

3. Bihar’s Caste Arithmetic Destroyed His Calculus

In Bihar, caste is not an element — it is the skeleton of politics.

PK has no:

caste base

community loyalty

entrenched social identity


A new party without a caste anchor in Bihar is like a boat with no hull.
It looks modern, sleek, aspirational —
and sinks instantly.

4. He Previously Worked With Giants — Now He Had to Build the Machine Himself

In Bengal and 2014 BJP campaigns, PK had:

massive party machinery

decades-old cadre

booth-level armies

money + muscle + networks


In Bihar he had… interns, volunteers, and a padayatra.

He thought he could replicate BJP’s discipline with Google Sheets and drone shots.

Politics doesn’t work that way.
Institutions are built over decades — not over motivational speeches.

5. His Tone Was Too Technocratic for Rural Bihar

He spoke like a McKinsey consultant trapped in a panchayat meeting:

governance models

economic templates

development blueprints

policy slides masquerading as speeches


None of it connected emotionally.
People don’t vote for policy PDFs —
they vote for identity, empathy, and trust.

PK couldn’t even fake emotional resonance.

6. He Walked Into a Saturated Political Market

The Nitish–Lalu–BJP triangle already occupies:

OBC belt

Dalit base

Upper-caste base

Muslim vote

Rural networks

Urban pockets

Legacy loyalties


There is zero oxygen for a fourth force unless it arrives with a social earthquake. Like it did in Delhi when Aravind Kejariwal came in picture new party

7. The Reality: Bihar Didn’t Even Know His Party Symbol

This is the most embarrassing — and revealing — part of his failure.

A state where millions still vote saying:

“Phool chhap ko dabaiye”

“Lalten chhap”

“Kamal chhap”


And PK couldn’t even communicate his party symbol?

If a strategist cannot brand his own symbol in a symbol-driven state,
what does that say about his political instincts?

No symbol → no recall → no votes.
The voters didn’t ignore him.
They simply didn’t know where on the EVM he existed.


8. He Confused His Clients’ Victories With His Own Strength

PK mistook his proximity to power for personal influence.

But:

Modi’s campaign was Modi’s charisma.

Mamata’s victory was Mamata’s aura.

Nitish’s 2015 wave was Nitish’s anti-BJP coalition.


PK was a technician, not the engine.

Bihar reminded him that you cannot inherit someone else’s mass appeal.

Prashant Kishor’s defeat is not tragic.
It is instructive.

He has:

no caste base

no ideological clarity

no emotional connect

no symbol recall

no grassroots cadre

no space in Bihar’s political geometry


What he had was:

media hype

intellectual arrogance

consultant confidence

and the delusion that he could turn management theory into a mass movement.


It didn’t work.
It was never going to work.

Because writing the script for others is easy.
Being the hero of your own story is the hardest job in politics.

Prashant Kishor wasn’t defeated by parties.
He was defeated by reality —
a reality he spent ten years helping others navigate,
but never learned to survive himself.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How the Punjabis and Their Green Revolution Destroyed Bong Male Sexuality: A Tragicomedy in Five Acts

Once upon a time in the hazy, intellectual bylanes of North Calcutta, amidst the aroma of cha and the hum of Rabindra Sangeet, there thrived a special species: **the Bong male**. Clad in a crushed kurta, jholaswinging from one shoulder, and debating Trotsky in a coffee house, he was the undisputed hero of his own black-and-white Satyajit Ray film. But then came the ** Green Revolution ** and with it, the Punjabis, their tractors, their turbans, and their testosterone. And thus began the slow, cruel erosion of the Bong male’s sexual confidence. Act I: The Rise of the Wheat Warrior In Punjab, they were growing wheat; in Bengal, we were still chewing on rice with mustard oil and talking about the “soul of the nation.” The Punjabi khet-majoor was lifting sacks and pumping water, while the Bong babu was lifting spirits with Tagore recitations. The Bong male, whose idea of a workout was adjusting the ceiling fan string, suddenly found himself compared to a muscle-bound Sunny Deol shouting “d...
Read more

Situationships: Because Commitment Doesn’t Trend Well

Why ambiguity feels safer than honesty — and hotter than clarity ! ! Nobody in urban India sets out saying, “I’d like a confusing emotional arrangement with unclear boundaries and an expiry date I’ll pretend not to notice.” It just happens. Somewhere between late-night cab rides, half-shared cigarettes, and conversations that get deep only after the third drink. You meet someone. Maybe through an app, maybe through mutuals, maybe at a house party where everyone pretends they’re not judging each other’s politics and dating history. The chemistry is real. The attraction undeniable. The vibe? Effortlessly modern. So modern, in fact, that nobody wants to name what’s happening — because naming things feels… old-school. Almost regressive. Instead, we let it breathe. We let it exist. We text daily, but not predictably. Predictability implies intention. We meet often, but not ritually. Rituals imply priority. We share playlists, trauma anecdotes, and beds — but asking “where is this going?” fe...
Read more

The Ethics of Sleeping With 4 People and Still Saying You’re Lonely

It starts with an Instagram story: A cup of chai, sunlight streaming through the window, and the caption — “Feeling empty today. Craving connection 💔🌫️” Meanwhile, you've got: One situationship in Bangalore who sends voice notes at 2 a.m. A sneaky link in Pune with excellent abs and zero emotional range. A queer cuddle buddy in Delhi who reads you Audre Lorde after sex. And an ex you “accidentally” keep hooking up with during retrogrades. But sure, you’re “lonely.” Modern Loneliness: Now With Multiple People and No One to Text First We live in the era of abundance without intimacy. You’ve got four people in your bed on rotation, two dating apps still buzzing, and yet you’re scrolling Twitter at 1 a.m. hoping a stranger’s sad meme will understand you. You say you want "deep connection." But you flinch when someone asks, “Where do you see this going?” You're not heartbroken. You're just emotionally gluten intolerant. Queer, Poly, and Perp...
Read more