PK, Kanhaiya, Jignesh; Men On The Verge Of Joining The Grand Old Party

Along with PK, two other names likely to join the Congress are CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar and independent MLA from Gujarat Jignesh Mevani.

When the news about election strategist Prashant Kishor meeting the Gandhis broke out, the corridors of national politics were swarming with speculations. When reports started suggesting that he might join the Congress party, the media was already guessing on what kind of role he’d play and what are the changes he’d bring to the party. That could also be a part of image engineering by PK, as no one can deny that he knows media management better than many in the contemporary politics.

Though he has not officially joined the Congress party yet, inside reports coming from the Congress every now and then suggest that he’s very much in touch with the top leadership.

Poll strategist Prashant Kishor meets Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at his residence in Delhi.

(File photos) pic.twitter.com/SrMYH3jGlY

— ANI (@ANI) July 13, 2021

The reports, however, have become more interesting in the past one week as new names emerge which are likely to join the Congress. Along with PK, two such names are CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar and independent MLA from Gujarat Jignesh Mevani.

According to the report by The Indian Express today, CPI leader and former JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar has met Rahul Gandhi. The meeting reportedly took place to prepare the ground for his entry into the Congress, which has suffered desertion by many young leaders in the past two years.

Sources also suggested that Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mevani too is in touch with the Congress leadership. During the last assembly elections, the Congress had helped Mevani by not fielding a candidate against him from the Vadgam seat in Banaskantha district of northern Gujarat.

Let’s look at the history of these three leaders in politics that are rumoured to join the Congress soon and what would they bring to the table for the grand old party.

Prashant Kishor

Kishor originally hails from the village of Rohtas district but shifted to Buxar in Bihar, where he completed his secondary education.

Initially trained in political strategy and tactics, Kishor has worked for the United Nations for eight years as a political strategist for International Politicians.

However, he came to wider public attention when Citizens for Accountable Governance (CAG), an election-campaign group he conceptualised, helped the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win an absolute majority in the 2014 Lok Sabha election.

Later, Kishor parted ways with Modi, and converted the (CAG) into a specialist policy outfit, Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC).

In 2015, Kishor, along with his other colleagues in the I-PAC, went to his home state to draw strategy for Nitish Kumar and the JD(U) for assembly polls. Kishor dramatically influenced the strategy, resources and alliances for the campaign, with cycle carrying the message of the CM’s seven commitments, with the slogan “Nitish ke Nishchay: vikas ki guarantee” (Nitish’s vow: development guaranteed). The JD(U) emerged successful in the elections.

Though Nitish appointed him the vice-president of his party, the stint did not last long. Kishor was suspended from the party on 29 January 2020 for criticizing party head Nitish Kumar’s supportive stand on Citizenship Amendment Act (2019).

In 2016 Kishor was hired by the Congress for Punjab Assembly Elections due in 2017 to help Amarinder Singh’s campaign in Punjab after losing two consecutive Assembly elections for the Congress. Kishor is often credited for the Congress victory in the bordering state. Amarinder Singh himself accepted the fact when he tweeted: “As I have said many times before, PK & his team and their work was absolutely critical to our victory in Punjab.”

Fully endorse this! As I have said many times before, PK & his team and their work was absolutely critical to our victory in Punjab! https://t.co/QtzoHdjPx6

— Capt.Amarinder Singh (@capt_amarinder) March 21, 2017

After the Congress victory in Punjab, Kishor was roped in by the grand old party for the Uttar Pradesh Election in 2017. However, Kishor and the Congress suffered a humiliating defeat as BJP won more than 300+ seats and Congress could only manage 7 seats.

Kishor and the I-PAC, after the UP upset, has not faltered in the four assembly elections they strategised for. The YSRCP in Andhra Pradesh, the AAP in Delhi, and the DMK in Tamil Nadu won elections walking on the gameplan drawn by Kishor and the I-PAC.

However, what garnered more prominence and credibility to Kishor’s name was the victory of Mamata Banerjee’s TMC in West Bengal against the BJP. In a bitterly contested election, Kishor had challenged that he would quit the political management space if the BJP crossed the double digit score.

For all the hype AMPLIFIED by a section of supportive media, in reality BJP will struggle to CROSS DOUBLE DIGITS in #WestBengal

PS: Please save this tweet and if BJP does any better I must quit this space!

— Prashant Kishor (@PrashantKishor) December 21, 2020

Kishor prevailed and the BJP could manage to win only 77 seats. Despite emerging victorious, Kishor declared that he was quitting as an election strategist.

It was after this decision by Kishor that he met the Gandhi family. However, as speculations started gaining momentum, several leaders from the Congress opposed the induction of Kishor in the party. The final decision on the strategist’s induction in the party will be taken by its interim President Sonia Gandhi. Sources have suggested that Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi are in favour of Kishor’s induction in the party and have already started working on his suggestions.

Prashant Kishor, practically speaking, has ideas that could change the fortunes of the Congress party, which has failed to pose any difficulties to the rival BJP in the last two elections. As mentioned earlier, Kishor enjoys mastery in image engineering, and can help Congress create an image that could beat the persona of Narendra Modi. He and the I-PAC are tech savvy, with immense experience after handling several elections. With Kishor joining the Congress, they will also get the entire might of the I-PAC behind them.

Kanhaiya Kumar

A former president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students’ Union (JNUSU) and National leader of the All India Students Federation (AISF), Kanhaiya Kumar is currently serving as a National Executive Council member of Communist Party of India.

Kanhaiya was born and brought up in the village of Bihat in Begusarai district. His mother, Meena Devi is an Anganwadi worker.

While at the Patna College of Commerce, Kumar began getting involved in student politics and joined the AISF. After completing his post graduation with an MA in sociology from Nalanda Open University in Patna, securing a first class, he moved to Delhi and after ranking first in the entrance exam in 2011, joined Jawaharlal Nehru University where he pursued a PhD in African studies at the School of International Studies.

Kanhaiya rose to prominence when he was arrested in 2016 over the charges of sedition in an event at the JNU campus. It was organised by JNU students to commemorate the second anniversary of the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Kumar denied shouting any slogans against integrity of the country.

After being released on bail, Kanhaiya gave a speech to a packed auditorium in the JNU campus, during which he said he was seeking, not freedom from India, but freedom within India. The speech won accolades from the leaders of non-BJP parties as well as independent commentators. Congress’ Shashi Tharoor commented that it turned Kumar into a “nationwide political star,” and congratulated BJP for creating this phenomenon.

Kanhaiya contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Begusarai on Communist Party of India’s ticket. He lost the election, polling a total of 269,976 votes and 22.03% of vote share. He secured a distant second position after losing to Giriraj Singh of Bharatiya Janata Party by 422,217 votes.

Now after spending several years in the left party, sources close to him have said Kanhaiya was feeling suffocated in the CPI. He met Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday and the two are learnt to have discussed his entry into the Congress.

Kanhaiya, known for his fiery oratory skills, can be an asset to the Congress party for campaigning in Purvanchal region of Uttar Pradesh as well as in his home state Bihar for the 2024 general elections.

Prashant Kishor, who also hails from Bihar and is likely to join the Congress, was also reportedly present during the discussions between Kanhaiya and Rahul Gandhi.

Jignesh Mevani

A lawyer, a dalit rights activist and a former journalist, Jignesh Mevani is a well-known name in the national politics, despite being an independent MLA in the Gujarati assembly.

The convener of the Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch was born in a Dalit family from the village of Meu in Mehsana district. His parents worked as government clerks and resided in the Dalit populated locality of Meghaninagar in Ahmedabad.

Mevani, after pursuing his graduation in English literature, went on to study masters diploma in journalism and mass communication.

After working as a journalist for a Gujarati magazine and a daily newspaper for three years in Mumbai, Mevani quit the job and became an activist. In his testimony, Mevani has stated that he “realised that idealism and realism are two different things” and came to the final decision to quit career as a journalist after watching the Gujarati documentary on farmers’ suicides called Khedu Mora Re.

In the following years, Mevani worked with several activists and civil rights organisations on the issues of farmers’ suicides, land reforms, discrimination against Dalits, and rights of sanitation workers.

In 2009, Mevani had led a JSM survey in the districts of Surendranagar and Ahmedabad to study the distribution of surplus government land to landless Dalits under provisions of the Gujarat Agriculture Land Ceiling Act. The findings of the survey revealed that the allotment of land had occurred only on paper and physical transfers of land had been denied. Over the course of the following years, he fought a long drawn out campaign over the allotment of land, in the process filing around 110 RTIs till 2015.

To be better equipped to assist individuals in need for legal representation, Mevani graduated for a second time with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 2013, and became a practising activist lawyer at the Gujarat High Court. The activist also joined the Aam Aadmi Party in 2014 for a brief period and became their spokesperson.

Mevani rose to national prominence during the protests following the Una flogging incident, when seven Dalit youths were tortured in the town of Una, Gujarat on the pretext of cow protection and in the presence of the police in 2016.

Mevani announced his candidature as an independent for the 2017 Gujarat assembly elections from Vadgam constituency. The INC and AAP withdrew their candidates and supported Mevani against the BJP candidate after he appealed for the same. Mevani won the election with a margin of over 18,000 votes.

With Mevani’s possible induction in the Congress, the party will get a leader in Gujarat, which goes to polls next year, with great charisma and ground-connect. With almost 7% of the Dalit votes in the state, Mevani could prove to be a game-changer, if Hardik Patel manages to poll the Patidar votes in favour of the Congress party.

The youth connect

After the exit of young leaders like Jyotiraditya Scindia, Sushmita Dev, Jitin Prasada and Priyanka Chaturvedi, the sources in the Congress said the party believes that the entry of Kumar and Mevani will give it a boost, at least optics wise.

The Congress, often blamed for being too conventional in its approach, can use the young guns to reshape its strategy to defeat the BJP.

However, it also remains to be seen whether other senior leaders in the Congress respond positively to such lateral entries as they will threaten their positions in the party.