Why Did Prashant Kishor’s Jan Suraaj Party Pick ‘School Bag’ As Its Symbol?

Patna: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has okayed Jan Suraaj Party’s choice of school bag as the symbol for the Prashant Kishor-founded party.

The four candidates fielded by Jan Suraaj bypolls for Tarari, Ramgarh, Belaganj and Imamganj Vidhan Sabha constituencies will contest on the back of the school bag.

What is the rationale behind Jan Suraaj’s preference for the school bag?

Kishor explained that his party wants to highlight the alleged removal of school bags from the backs of Bihar children during the last 35 years, under the governments of RJD and JDU supremos Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar.

“In the 35 years of Lalu-Nitish rule, the school bag has been removed from the backs of the children of Bihar and a sack of labour has been tied on them. Jan Suraaj’s thinking is that the way to end poverty of the people of Bihar is school bag, the way to employment is school bag, and if migration in Bihar has to be stopped then the way is school bag,” Kishor told reporters in Gaya.

“That is why the election symbol of Jan Suraj is the school bag because only through education can people develop, poverty can be eradicated,” he reasoned.

Earlier this week, Kishor urged people of Bihar to stop supporting political parties based on ‘jaat’ (caste) and ‘bhaat’ (free ration) as such voting pattern is pushing the state back.

“Lalu Prasad and chief minister Nitish Kumar kept the whole of Bihar trapped in ‘jaat’ for 35 years. For the past 10 years, Modi has been short-changing you in exchange for five kgs of ‘bhaat.’ You must stop voting for ‘jaat’ and ‘bhaat’ if you want a better future for yourself and your children,” Kishor said at an election rally.