Jan Suraaj leader Prashant Kishor’s long-awaited leap from political strategist to political contender was always going to be a high-stakes experiment. For years he had been the backroom architect of some of India’s most formidable electoral campaigns. When he finally stepped out with Jan Suraaj, the expectation ~ fair or unfair ~ was that he would rewrite Bihar’s politics with the precision of a campaign blueprint. The verdict, however, was far more sobering.

Jan Suraaj’s performance in the 2025 assembly elections exposed a structural reality often forgotten in the age of political start-ups: strategy can amplify a movement, but it cannot substitute for one. Mr Kishor created an impeccably organised outfit, deployed data as its central nervous system, and undertook a gruelling padayatra to stitch visibility to grassroots outreach. Yet, it all unfolded in a state that was neither angry nor restless. Bihar, for all its chronic challenges, was not........

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