PK KICKS OFF FOUR-DAY YATRA IN HAJIPUR

PATNA: Political strategist Prashant Kishor on Monday embarked on a four-day Jan Suraj Yatra from Hajipur in Vaishali district of Bihar— the region said to have evolved the concept of the republic in the world —to muster people’s support for his much-talked-about 3,500-kilometre padyatra (foot march) across Bihar.

During his public sensitisation campaign about the concept that prompted him to switch from being political strategist to a protagonist for political change, Kishor will have direct dialogue with ordinary citizens of the district at 40 different places. “The task to make people break away from the state of political inertia is really a daunting one. It has been a scourge for people of Bihar,” Kishor told reporters before launching the public outreach programme as spadework for his main campaign starting on October 2.

“It’s an irony that power remained concentrated among 1,200-1,300 families in the last three decades in Bihar. These families used to call shots in politics, whosoever be the chief ministers. Bihar was among the best-governed states till the 1960s. Things changed for the worse after that. By the 1990s, Bihar came down at the bottom all development indices,” said Kishor, an IITian and native of Buxar.

Describing the downswing in the political journey of his home state, Kishore said that 23 years journey (from 1967 to 1990) was a phase of political instability. “Bihar saw more than 20 governments during that period,” he said.

Kishor had hit out at both CM Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad, saying that the state left much to be desired despite the claims of good governance and social reforms by different parties.