Patna: With the Bihar assembly elections looming, Prashant Kishore’s political party, Jan Suraj, has ramped up its campaign activities. The party is set to launch a signature campaign from May 11, beginning in Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s ancestral village, Kalyan Bigha, in Nalanda district. Kishore, who is spearheading the movement, aimed to highlight the unfulfilled promises of CM Nitish Kumar.
Speaking at a public meeting in Harnaut, Nalanda on Sunday, Kishore targeted Nitish’s claims of development, emphasizing that many people in the district were already involved in the Jan Suraj initiative. The signature campaign, Kishore explained, would focus on three key issues tied to Nitish’s governance. One of the main points of contention is the unfulfilled promise of financial assistance to poor families after the caste census. Nitish had promised Rs 2 lakh to around 94 lakh families, but two state budgets later, not a single family has received the promised amount. Kishore vowed to expose the truth of how many people in Nitish Kumar’s own village have benefited from this initiative.
Kishore also raised concerns about a 2006 promise made by Nitish, offering land to Dalit and Mahadalit families for house construction. While the land size was increased when Jitan Ram Manjhi became Chief Minister, Kishore claimed that many families, particularly those in Kumar’s village, had received land only on paper, with no actual possession granted. He criticized the Bihar government for failing to deliver on this promise, with a significant portion of land grants remaining unfulfilled.
The third issue Kishore flagged was the ongoing land survey process, which he argued was rife with corruption. He accused the government of harassing citizens and demanding bribes for land digitization and other official processes, such as Dakhil Kharij. The Jan Suraj campaign, he said, would monitor whether such practices were occurring in the Chief Minister’s own village.
Kishore also launched a sharp attack on both Nitish Kumar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, drawing a parallel between PM Modi’s unfulfilled promise of Rs 15 lakh for every citizen and CM Nitish’s failed Rs 2 lakh promise, calling both “Jumla” (empty rhetoric).
