Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 28: Election strategist Prashant Kishor, who is credited with having successfully managed electoral victories of several political parties including helping Narendra Modi in 2014 Parliamentary elections, on Thursday lambasted the Congress, particularly Rahul Gandhi, for his lack of political understanding.
Speaking at a gathering in Goa, Kishor said Gandhi believe that it was only a matter of time that the people of India would “throw away” Modi and the BJP and was reluctant to take measures to make the Congress able to fight against the BJP. But the reality was that the BJP was unlikely to be removed “in many decades” unless the Congress and other non-BJP parties take measures to counter it. “But unfortunately Rahul Gandhi does not realize it,” he added.
“The BJP is not going anywhere for “many decades” and the problem with Rahul Gandhi is that he does not realise it,” Kishor said giving a clear indication of a complete collapse of his talks with the Congress and the Gandhis of managing the Congress poll strategy for the coming elections.
In a clip from a recent Q and A session shared on social media, Prashant Kishor said the BJP would remain at the centre of Indian politics for years to come, whether it wins or loses, just like it was for the Congress in the first 40 years after independence.
“BJP is going to be the centre of Indian polity… whether they win, whether they lose like it was for the first 40 years for Congress. BJP is going nowhere. Once you secure 30 percent plus votes at the India level you are not going away in a hurry. So do not ever get into this trap that people are getting angry and they will throw away (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi. Maybe they will throw away Modi but BJP is not going anywhere. They are going to be here, they are to fight it out for the next many decades. It’s not going in a hurry,” Kishor told his audience.
“That is where the problem lies with Rahul Gandhi probably. He thinks it’s just a matter of time that people will throw him away. That’s not happening,” he commented. He added: “Unless you examine, understand and take cognizance of (PM Modi’s) strength, you will never be able to put (in place) a counter to defeat him.”
Kishor is in Goa to work on the campaign of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, which has said it would contest polls next year in the seaside state. The much-in-demand strategist recently added the stupendous victories of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal and MK Stalin in Tamil Nadu to his impressive CV fighting much against the onslaught of the BJP.
Earlier this month, he pointed at “deep-rooted” problems in the Congress and sought to “caution” anyone who believed that Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s move to meet the families of the farmers killed in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh – and their widely-reported confrontation with the police – meant a “quick, spontaneous revival” of a Congress-led opposition. He said “unfortunately there are no quick fix solutions to the deep-rooted problems and structural weakness” of the Congress.
The BJP’s Ajay Sherawat was among those who have tweeted the clip. “Eventually, Prashant Kishor acknowledged that BJP will continue to be a force to reckon with in Indian politics for decades to come. That’s what Amit Shah Ji declared way too earlier,” he wrote.
After Mamata Banerjee’s impressive victory in the April-May Bengal election, news emerged in July of Kishor’s talks with the Gandhis for a role in the Congress. But soon, there were reports of a breakdown in those negotiations because Kishor wanted a free hand to overhaul the party. He reportedly also sought to detach himself from the five state elections next year, preferring to go all out in the preps for the 2024 national election instead. Kishor, 44, widely credited with playing a role in PM Modi’s 2014 election victory, is seen to be proactive in moves to mount a credible challenge to the BJP in the 2024 national polls.
