Jan Suraaj’s poll debacle puts spotlight on political ‘startups’ that failed to become ‘unicorns’
New Delhi: The debacle of Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj party in the Bihar Assembly elections has put the spotlight on the phenomenon of several such political ‘startups’ sprouting in the crowded political battleground but very few becoming ‘unicorns’.
While the Jan Suraaj may be the latest to bite the dust, there have been other parties that created a strong buzz but failed to succeed at the hustings such as actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiam, which drew a blank in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly polls.
Going forward, all eyes are now on the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), founded last year by actor-turned-politician Vijay. The party has created a strong buzz and with several political ‘startups’ formed by movie stars doing well in the past in the South, there are high expectations from it in the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls next year.
There are very small ‘startup’ parties as well such as the Plurals party in Bihar headed by Pushpam Priya Choudhary. Her party has contested two consecutive Assembly polls in Bihar but drew a blank in both.
Then there are small parties that have limited ambitions and survive in pockets such as Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Upendra Kushwaha’s Rashtriya Lok Morcha.
In Uttar Pradesh, there are parties like NISHAD Party, Peace Party, Apna Dal (Sonelal) and Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP).
In India, parties keep getting formed and disappear after a poor showing at the hustings, hardly creating any buzz. But this cannot be said about Kishor’s Jan Suraaj because it created more than a splash, with many predicting that it could emerge as the next Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in the Bihar polls.
However, the media euphoria around it proved to be a mirage as the party was decimated at the hustings and failed to open its account in any of the 238 seats it contested.
Barring exceptions, parties in India that have gained a foothold are broadly characterised into three categories -- arising out of a movement, built around a household name, personality or a dynasty, and developed around a social or religious group or a specific ideology.
If one looks at the political landscape of the country, there are six national parties -- BJP, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), National People’s Party (NPP), and AAP.
While the Congress arose from the freedom movement, the BJP arose from an ideology and gained from the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
The CPI(M) was built around ideology, the NPP was formed by a known politician who broke away from his parent party, the BSP was built around a social group and the AAP emerged from the India Against Corruption movement.
Very few political ‘startups’ have done well since the rise of the regional Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in 1982 and that too was formed on the popularity of movie star N T Rama Rao.
Parties that have emerged as regional powerhouses after that such as West Bengal’s Trinamool Congress, Biju Janata Dal in Odisha and AIMIM in Telangana have gained due to a known political figure who broke away from the parent party (Mamata Banerjee) or due to dynastic goodwill (Naveen Patnaik and Asaduddin Owaisi). Though AIMIM was formed much earlier, it gained popularity under Owaisi.
Other parties such as Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) are also examples that fall in either of the two categories -- breakaway factions or dynastic goodwill. The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) was built around a movement for the protection of Dalits and has had limited success in Tamil Nadu. WITH AGENCY INPUTS
