Prashant Kishor meticulously planned and executed Modi’s ‘Chai pe Charcha’ campaign.
Prashant Kishor, the political strategist known for shaping election campaigns across India, rose to prominence for his work with Narendra Modi during the 2012 Gujarat Legislative Assembly elections and subsequently with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Establishing rapport with then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the 2012 Assembly elections, Kishor swiftly won his trust and earned himself name, fame and success over the next two years in the run-up to the high-decibel 2014 Lok Sabha Election.
Kishor won praise for executing whatever he was assigned to do. He worked young management graduates and techies to manage data and design campaigns. He was behind the meticulously planned and executed Modi’s ‘Chai pe Charcha’ campaigns.
Following Modi’s resounding triumph in 2014, Kishor emerged as a prodigious talent, praised for his innovative, high-tech war room, setting an unprecedented standard in Indian electoral history.
However, disillusionment brewed over unfulfilled election promises and Kishor increasingly voiced dissatisfaction over PM Modi”s performance.
The BJP, known for flushing out dissent at the first sign of trouble, soon axed Kishor forcing him to look for new options.
His next project with Nitish Kumar marked a new chapter, pitting him against his former ally, PM Modi. With the successful delivery of Bihar to the JDU chief, Kishor had left his mark on the polls, and it seemed like sweet revenge for him.
However, navigating the political landscape posed its own set of challenges. PM Modi”s reelection in 2019 by an even greater margin, and the BJP”s subsequent victories in numerous state elections post-2014, underscored their ability to succeed without Kishor”s strategic guidance.
When Kishor aligned with PM Modi”s adversaries, the outcomes varied: while leaders like Arvind Kejriwal in Delhi and Mamata Banerjee in Bengal achieved success on their own merit, others faced defeat.
One such instance was Kishor”s involvement in building the Congress-Samajwadi Party alliance in Uttar Pradesh during the 2017 elections. Despite the coalition’s aim to consolidate the “secular” vote, the BJP emerged victorious, decimating both SP and Congress, securing nearly 80% of the seats.
Similarly, Kishor”s role as the poll strategist for Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the 2022 Goa elections ended in disappointment, with TMC failing to secure any seats despite extensive campaigning, significant financial investment, and alliances with local parties. Even AAP, with comparatively lesser expenditure, managed to clinch two seats.
Senior journalist Sankarshan Thakur describes Kishor as “a gun for hire, politically polygamous, ideology-averse, and therefore, a freelance carpetbagger.”
Despite such criticism, Kishor remains undeterred, offering suggestions whether sought or not.
Recently, Kishor suggested that Rahul Gandhi should contemplate stepping back if the Congress fails to achieve desired results in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. He likened the repeated failures of the opposition to halt the BJP”s momentum to dropping catches in a cricket match, allowing the opponent to score a century.
“If you keep dropping catches, the batter will score a century, especially if he is a good batter,” Kishor told a news agency in an exclusive conversation.
Dismissing the perception of the BJP”s “unstoppable” march under Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “big illusion,” the former JD(U) leader, asserted that the BJP would only feel pressure if the Congress-led opposition INDIA bloc could ensure a loss of at least 100 seats in the BJP”s strongholds in north and west India. However, he said “that is not going to happen.”
