Man who helped build brand Modi, propped Nitish’s campaign

The man who hard-sold brand Narendra Modi during the 2012 Assembly polls in Gujarat and last year’s general elections, also helped craft Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s campaign strategy in Bihar that saw him thump his arch foe in the Assembly elections.

Prashant Kishor, a native of Bihar, had quit a UN health expert’s job in Africa in 2011 and returned to India to form a group of professionals, who devised a strategy to project Modi as the face of good governance in the 2012 Gujarat polls and last year’s general elections with resounding success.

Kishor, the man with the Midas touch, replicated the feat once again when Kumar secured a third consecutive term trouncing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar, where Modi, an arch rival of the JD(U) leader, had staked it all, having addressed at least 31 election rallies, unusual for a Prime Minister in a state poll.

Kishor, 37, who conceptualised and implemented Modi’s popular ‘chai pe charcha’ initiative, substituted it with ‘parcha pe charcha’ (discussion over pamphlets), under which Kumar’s poll managers sought feedback from people on the state government’s performance over the past decade.

Realising that the JD(U) cannot match the resources of the BJP, Kishor’s team also devised the ‘Har Ghar Dastak’ (knock on every door) campaign, which helped the party establish a personal connect with the masses.

When top BJP leaders were busy criss-crossing the politically-crucial state on helicopters, Kumar and his party workers went knocking at doors of the electorate, seeking their vote as part of a direct outreach initiative.

When asked why he switched over to Modi’s rival, Kishor said: “Nitish Kumar is one of the country’s most credible politicians.” 

The usually “laconic” Kumar, members of Kishor’s team said, was hardly a talking point when the team landed in Patna. Working assiduously behind the scene, they crafted a strategy where Kumar matched Modi’s each trenchant criticism with equally sharp retort.

Kishor had brought together a group of graduates from India’s premier institutes and multinational companies to work on Modi’s 2014 election campaign under the name ‘Citizens for Accountable Governance’. He dissolved CAG a few months after the elections.