Bhubaneswar: Bihar has always been one of the most politically complex states in India. It is a place where electoral behaviour, social identity, and ground-level networks play a larger role than campaign narratives or political innovation. The state often surprises analysts because voters say one thing but vote another, creating outcomes that defy predictions.
Within this landscape, Prashant Kishor’s attempt to establish a new political formation provides an important case study for understanding the structural challenges of Bihar’s politics.
1. Bihar’s Voter Psychology: Emotional, Identity-Driven, Grounded in Necessity
Bihar’s electorate traditionally responds to a combination of:
• Basic needs and welfare access
For many families, politics is tied to immediate necessities—security, food supply, electricity, local influence. The leader who can provide the fastest, most reliable access often earns loyalty.
• Strong caste identity and community bonds
Caste dynamics remain deeply embedded in Bihar’s political fabric. While people may appreciate messages of reform, development, or modernisation, voting often aligns with community loyalties. At the booth level, caste arithmetic still shapes outcomes.
• Leadership familiarity and relatability
Voters gravitate toward leaders who speak like them, live among them, and reflect their social environment. Personal connection and emotional familiarity often outweigh policy promises.
This is where traditional leaders—like Lalu Prasad Yadav or Nitish Kumar—built formidable bases. They grew from within the system and understood its cultural soil.
2. Why Prashant Kishor Struggled to Convert His Appeal Into Votes
Prashant Kishor’s political credentials as a national strategist are substantial. However, electoral engineering for others is different from building your own mass base.
a) Outsider-within perception
Even though Kishor is from Bihar, many voters perceived him as someone shaped outside the state—educated, polished, and relatively sophisticated. In a political culture where rough edges, earthy humour, and localised language connect strongly, this perceived distance mattered.
b) Message–culture mismatch
Talking about employment, education, or structural reform resonates with youth and urban voters, but in Bihar’s villages:
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Local patronage networks
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Caste-aligned leadership
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Immediate deliverables
play a much bigger role than long-term visions.
c) Lack of deep grassroots organisation
Established Bihar parties have:
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Panchayat-level cadres
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Booth committees
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Decades-old local alliances
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Community-specific mobilisation systems
Building such a network from scratch, especially with a new party, requires years—not months.
d) Overestimation of technocratic politics
Kishor’s approach is modern, data-driven, consultative. But Bihar’s politics still runs on emotion, identity, personal touch, and familiarity. Development-centric politics works best when tied to a relatable local leader, not just to a policy vision.
3. Development vs. Caste: The Unresolved Contradiction
Many new leaders attempt to replace caste politics with development politics in Bihar. However:
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Caste gives voters a guarantee of representation.
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Development promises are more abstract and future-oriented.
For a voter who relies on local protection or access to welfare schemes through community networks, caste still feels like a safer political bet.
This does not mean Bihar rejects development—it simply prioritises development through familiar identity-based channels, not in abstraction.
4. Lessons for Any New Political Formation in Bihar
i) Caste calculus cannot be ignored
Even modern parties must work with sociopolitical realities before transforming them.
ii) Ground work must precede big promises
Without a booth-strong cadre network, no message—however powerful—translates into votes.
iii) Emotional connect matters as much as policy
Leaders must speak the local idiom, understand village-level dynamics, and appear accessible.
iv) Stability of leadership is valued
Voters often choose the familiar over the experimental.
5. The Broader Takeaway
Bihar’s political landscape is a reminder that democracy is not purely rational or reform-driven. It is shaped by identity, emotion, daily experience, and social history. Any leader who hopes to bring transformative change must balance:
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Developmental vision
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Identity sensitivity
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Grassroots organisation
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Cultural alignment
Prashant Kishor attempted to introduce a new grammar of politics, but Bihar’s electorate operates on a deeper, historically rooted political logic.
-OdishaAge
