By Nistula Hebbar

Copyright thehindu

You have been a strategist for a long time, what made you take the plunge of launching a political party?

The trigger point was the COVID pandemic. At that time I was involved in elections in Bengal and Tamil Nadu, and I felt helpless that despite all the network, power, resources that I had, I felt that I could not be of any help to anybody

It also made me realise that a lot of the talk of good governance in Bihar is hollow. That almost five million people got into trouble, had to walk back to Bihar. That’s the time I thought I should go back to Bihar. And the proof of this is that the day the TMC won Bengal, May 2, 2021, I announced that I’m quitting what I was doing.

Once the announcement was done I gave myself a year to think over what to do, and one of the initial thoughts was to partner with Congress. I had discussions with the Congress, where, basically, the idea was to literally build a party from the grassroot. We couldn’t however take that leap of faith, so I decided, that it was time for me to go on my own.

How do you differentiate Jan Suraaj from others?

First, this is the only party in the history of independent India, where one crore people were brought together even before the party was formed. This was unlike other parties where you form the entity, and do an outreach later. Secondly, we are trying to recreate what the Congress was in pre independence era, the Congress of Mahatma Gandhi. What I mean by this is that before independence, Congress was the platform where everybody and anybody, who wanted to do something towards the independence of the country, joined the Congress, that they will get to do something. What we are trying here is also similar, if you want to do something better for Bihar, become part of Jan Suraaj, so you will see in this party, people from all faith, people from CPI(ML), BJP, RSS, orthodox Muslims, and Congressis.

But a lot of people also say that you will only be a spoiler between INDIA bloc and NDA.

When you say the two formations of INDIA and NDA, how much vote do they have? 72% adding both. So, 28% , literally one third of Bihar, has not voted for either NDA or INDIA. Now, take your word that I’m only a spoiler, assume that if I’m cutting 5%, 8%, 10% vote of NDA, similar or lesser percentage of RJD then, just add that vote to the block which are not voting for these 2 formations. You are talking about 40% vote. And that’s why when people say, vote katwa (spoiler) party, they think that they are using it as an abuse to us, I say, yes, we are, but we are cutting so much vote of both sides that they will be finished.

How do you view the allegations regarding the Special Intensive Review (SIR)?

SIR has not been an issue in Bihar. It’s good that it was talked about, it made Election Commission a bit more vigilant, but if you hear what we said at the beginning, that ultimately Supreme Court would not allow EC to determine citizenship, because, it’s not their job. What they can do is check documents for inclusion in voter rolls. Ultimately, that is what happened

You’ve been very close to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the past. Have you met him lately and how is his health?

Personally, I’m still on good terms with him, my fight with Nitish Kumar is not with him as an individual but with the government he heads. Today, Nitish Kumar is not running any government, it’s run by the coterie around him. His government today is run by 5 or 6 close advisors that comprises both ministers and bureaucrats. They are the ones who have completely sold out everything.

The NDA always harks back to the Jungle Raj under RJD, despite it being 20 years since he was in power, do you think there is any generational memory of it among the young?

People do have memories of it, and that’s the reason RJD government cannot come back. Those who sit in Delhi, they have no idea that after 2005, Laluji’s party has never won in Bihar, and I don’t see it’s happening in next 10, 15, 20 years. Moreover, currently, the younger generation is saying that while they don’t what the RJD, they want better results from the present government, that they cannot keep taking the vote only by showing shortcomings of RJD, what is it that you are going to do for issues like jobs, migration, overall development of Bihar?

What is your take on the slew of welfare give aways announced by the NDA government?

Nothing works once people make up their mind for change. When you give examples of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh polls being turned around on freebies, you are conveniently forgetting, Andhra Pradesh, where Jagan Mohan Reddy had given bigger freebies, or Rajasthan where Ashok Gehlot had opened the treasury for people. Every government tries this close to the election and in some cases, it works. Also how can we say that the victory was only because of the freebies, there could a complex of reasons.