Sr. Journalist Chinki Sinha on Prashant Kishor, GenZ protests and women in leadership.

Pause with Nandini | Journalist Chinki Sinha on Bihar Politics, Prashant Kishor's Rise & Women in Power

Journalist Chinki Sinha joins Nandini for a candid, on-the-ground conversation about Bihar's shifting political landscape — from Prashant Kishor's stunning Bankipur by-election win to the generational awakening led by Gen Z, and what it all means for women in Indian politics.

In this episode:

• What Prashant Kishor's Bankipur win really signals — and what it doesn't
• The role of caste, class, and upper-caste anger in Bihar's evolving politics
• Gen Z protests, a new culture of accountability, and speaking truth to power
• Women as vote banks vs. women as leaders — the gap that still exists
• Three things Prashant Kishor must do to turn one win into lasting change

Chapters:

• 0:00 Introduction
• 1:44 Prashant Kishor's Bankipur Win
• 9:15 Gen Z Protests & Political Awakening
• 17:03 Women in Bihar Politics
• 25:11 Closing Reflections — What's the Plan?

Pause with Nandini is a podcast at the intersection of politics, society, and the stories that matter.

Thank you for listening! Watch all episodes of Pause with Nandini on https://youtube.com/c/NRIAffairs

Transcript

0:08

Hello, and welcome to this snap episode of Pause with Nandini. I have Chinki Sinha here with me who is from Bihar, and I want to hear her perspective on a few things that are going on that have really caught the imagination, I think, of people. And, of course, we're talking about Prashant Kishor today. And on 3rd of August, the Jan Suraaj Party founder, Prashant Kishor, he won the Bankipur assembly by-election in Patna. He defeated the BJP's Neeraj Kumar Sinha by more than 19,000 votes, and this was his first electoral contest as a candidate, and the party's first-ever seat in the Bihar Legislative Assembly. And it ended the BJP's hold on Bankipur, a seat that the party had dominated for more than three decades. And that itself has been a bit of a shocker for people, but the win is striking because of what preceded it as well. In the November 2025, Bihar Assembly elections, the Jan Suraaj contested 238 of the 243 seats, failed to win even one seat, and finished with a vote share of roughly 2%. So after that, this Bankipur seems like a comeback story. It created a little bit of a tremor everywhere, and we'll be talking a little bit more about that. Kishor himself has framed the result as a message rather than a personal milestone. He's calling it a wake-up call for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and saying that voters are rejecting arrogance, and they want to rise above caste. How true this is remains to be seen, but we will now ask Chinki… And hello, Chinki. There's so much to talk about. but give me a sense of what your reading is of this development. Let's begin there. See, my reading is that see Bakipur is a very open constituency also, right? It's mostly middle class, upper caste, c- that demographic, right? So, there's a lot… I mean, obviously it's, it's, it's a shocker in a way. but the reasons I think that people are attributing to it, are not the only reasons. There is a reason of this, this anger, of BJP kind of, and that's a general anger I'm saying, amongst people, about how BJP basically removed Nitish Kumar, and they always suspected some conspiracy and all that. And, how they got, Samrat Chaudhary, with all this, crim- and in fact, Prashant Kishor was very vocal, during last elections because I attended several press conferences about Samrat Chaudhary being, the accused in the Shilpi Jain rape and murder case, who was my also, a- a- who was also my school senior in St. Joseph's Convent and Women's College. In fact, I wrote about, that rape case, when it happened, the gang rape case, because it kind of changed a lot of things for us in the '90s, right? And, she was, she was, she was a couple of senior to me, and I saw her that day in the morning. And by evening, everything had changed. It was the first time that candlelit march, like, these marches happened in Patna. You know, in the beginning he was attacking RJD a lot, right? If you remember, nawvi pass for Tejashwi and all of that, and he was, like, talking about education and… Which is great. Mm. Once you talk about education, once you talk about migration, once you talk about everything. In my opinion, what didn't happen in the last election is that he didn't talk about caste, which, Mm … I had, I mean, a lot of people would say that by caste should be talked about, and I feel that it should be talked about, especially it's Bihar. Mm. most elections have been fought on the basis of caste. And caste and class are interrelated, right? So, Yeah … I think, there was no space for this kind of politics to emerge at that point in time. I think the small window that happened was in 2020 when Tejashwi, led the whole thing and they all, they won. You know, that time when, they said that, you create jobs and migrant workers. That, that was the COVID time. That was the first elections during COVID when Bihar went to elections. Now, the other thing that I, think is very interesting to look at in Prashant Kishor's victory is that he also comes from upper caste, right? for the longest time of 40 years, you know, the, the politics of Bihar has been ruled by two very big faces, like Lalu and Nitish. Both of them came from the OBC cadre, like the, the caste, and both of them were using the planks of social justice, right? And, Lalu's time was especially very violent. and I think, this election when we were on the ground, we also looked at, the composition and the, uh, interesting, caste coalitions. Now- A lot of it is to say that we, Bihar has moved on in a way from that- Mm … social engineering to a different kind of social engineering now, right? so the, affiliations are more transactional now rather than ideology-based. And that is one thing, and I think one of the factors was also because a lot of people were dissatisfied that Samrat Chaudhary was not upper caste. Mm. And the BJ- BJP which, fielded around 83, candidates that were … Or, or what, 78 or something like that. I, I have the numbers. But BJP being, like, seen as an upper caste, kind of, party- Mm did not … did be- betrayed the, the upper caste who have been feeling a lot of angst, in, in those 40 years that they have not, gotten, representation. Although their percentage seems to be around 10 point some percentage only. But you see, in Bihar, the power doesn't work like that. It works through, land, you know, through class and all of that. So I think that is one other factor. I think it's also, like a vengeance thing, upper caste, right? And who better than Prashant Kishor? Also remember, Prashant Kishor did not contest, the last two times, and he announced that the last time, from the two seats that he announced he would contest, right? and the party failed to get any seats, because I don't think there was any space. The third thing was, like, people were also very kind to Nitish Kumar saying that this is his last term. We'll give him a good farewell. So all of these things together, I think it would be very simplistic to just, see Prashant Kishor's win as, you know, something, I mean, as big as heralding change- Like, a lot of people on the ground did say that Prashant Kishor himself showed a lot of arrogance, Mm during the campaigns and whatnot. Mm-hmm. And I had met him briefly, during, the 2025 elections. I think, maybe he learned that this is not the way to go in Bihar See, there is change because if you see, like, I was at Jantar Mantar for three days, but I mean, I have gone to all the protests and, Bihar also, I, went the other day. See, there is a general dissatisfaction, right? There's a general hopelessness. What I saw in 2025 was people saying things like, "कोई भी आएगा, हमारा क्या ही होगा?" Right? Mm. Now, with all the protests, there's, there's one thing that's very significant is, that we, we see that, you know, we have always experienced the price that one pays for saying something, right? Like, I have paid the price. Many others have paid the price. and not to say that we are victims or anything, but that's how the system became. you could not criticize anybody. You could, you had to toe the line. If you didn't toe the line, you pay whatever. Now, with Gen Z protests, what has happened is that you are seeing, people just, talking. You know, they are speaking up against the system. They are saying all that, and obviously, the consequences have been there for them also, but they're not stopping it. Now, that's very interesting because at least they've shown that you can speak up, right? Which was something- Yeah … that was so dormant for the last 10 to 12 years, that we saw the whole media turning kind of very docile and submissive in, in a way that also they joined the cardres in fact, right? Mm-hmm. so that's one significant change, and I think, I, in fact, I met, two days ago, I met these two very young students, 18-year-olds, from, I think Sasaram in Bihar. they were very articulate about it. So they said, key, So we were talking and I said, you know, "Ayodhya se bhi toh paise chori ho gaye, ye vo." He said, "Dekhiye, Hindu ka desh hai toh mandir toh banana chahiye. Lekin woh mandir ka whatever the money that you get from the temple donations and all should be used to, build, hospitals and schools." Now that I thought was a very interesting point coming from- Mm-hmm … somebody that young, right? because I think they understand politics in a very different way than I think- Yeah my generation did, right? My generation was more about social justice, secularism of a, for a, for… I mean, whoever was on this side, whoever… Like, you know? I think this generation looks at it very differently. I think i- it's not about… Which is the most beautiful thing. It's not about religion, it's not about caste. Although caste has to figure because, you know, mostly the people who are going for these examinations are coming from very disenfranchised backgrounds, and mostly those backgrounds. Also, very interestingly, a whole r- lot of conversation are again emerging about reservation. You know, I was at a dinner the, the other day and, there was a lot of, conversation about reservation and, people were saying, "Why do you no- need reservation?" Now, this kind of conversation happened. I grew up in Bihar during the Mandal, time, you know? So, so these kinds of things were always simmering in the background and I think what Gen Z, this, this whole thing has given people is that you are not gonna get things just sitting there. So you have to get out on the streets and you have to ask for it. Now, that itself opens up a lot of possibilities in the in terms of political, affiliations, choices, whatever. And as JDU declines, which it will, I mean, there will be a vacuum. Prashant Kishor will move in, right? for the fact that I am actually personally saying very, not… Like disappointed in Tejashwi in a way that- Mm. you know, he should have, he should have been there, right? I mean, they did not work really hard. Maybe there was some kind of conversation to make Prashant Kishor win the seat or something. But, whatever it was, I think some of that reflected. A lot of these, people who vote from Bakipur, they have children studying elsewhere. They probably were BJP supporters. Of course, they were because, you know, in upper caste, upper caste of Bihar are always mostly BJP supporters. And, so that has, that is changing. I don't know where, like, it will go because Bakipur is a very small, area that also you're looking at. I mean, it doesn't speak for the whole state because elsewhere in the state, you know, caste dynamic's coming to play and all of that. So that- Right … I think a little bit, of course, it has affected people because Prashant Kishor did talk about education. He did talk about, fixing the system, although he didn't say how One of the things, one of the things also is, again, you know, we have a tendency to fixate on a person, right? as if they've got one magic wand that can change things. So what do you think about the party itself? Do you think the party that's just dissolved its units, can they rebuild fast enough to be substantial? And is Bihar ready for this sort of third front? I think, Bihar if not ready now, it will be ready very soon. this is my personal whatever feeling- Mm that I'm getting. also I feel that, he can rebuild the party, because sometimes you need just one push, right? And this is a big thing for them that Prashant Kishor himself got his feet dirty in what- Right … right? In the sense that, he did not put up a candidate because, you know, it's, it's, it's a formidable thing, right, to go into the BJP guard- Yeah especially at a time like this, and kind of register a win for a party that actually lost all the seats in the past elections. Yes, yes. Given the fact that he himself predicted that we will either get 10 per- 10%, like, whatever, or we will form the government. The, the co- claims were very big, right? Yeah. And became a laughing stock later, right? Right. so I think sometimes I feel in politics you can't write off, anybody. and you can't do hero worship also, because that's a very … Like, we have been seeing the dangers of that. Wow. but I think Prashant Kishor, is charismatic for sure. Mm-hmm. He has that stature for sure. Things that could work against him probably, as I would see in a state like Bihar, is his caste probably. Right. but also and interestingly, it also works for him in terms of the BJP situation because- Right. Right … there is now the upper caste, upper caste thing, right? Mm-hmm. And in many ways when we were covering Bihar elections when I was at Outlook that time and I was discussing it with someone and I said, "It seems to me this election is the return of the upper caste." And, they said, "Yeah, but of course you can't put that in the headline," I mean, the cover line. And I said, "Why not?" He's like, "Because, you know, in every which way that is correct." Because if you look at the coalitions- Mm … the numbers itself will tell you, right? That's where it is. The one most interesting thing I came, across was, you know, the number of bahubalis that they fielded, like the criminal politicians. Now the numbers are kind of like they blamed, RJD but they have similar numbers and the upper caste are called bahubalis, but the lower caste ones will be called dakes or baghis. Now that, that is something that has been going on for a long time. So I think for Prashant Kishor it would be challenging, but he can rebuild. Uh, he's from Bihar. The state- Yeah … is ready for a new conversation. As I said, it's now more transactional politics. If you look at the social engineering now, where JDU has also given tickets to, um, to upper caste and, um- Mm-hmm different, uh, OBCs and EBCs and all that, EWS. Uh, where RJD is still banking on the MY coalition seems to not be working so much in their favor. I think they lack a charismatic leader And yes, you can't undermine the, the sort of the power of a charismatic leader. One of the things that struck with me was that, you know, now more and more we are seeing, like we saw with Mamdani in the US, for instance, bread-and-butter issues, everyday issues, respect for the common man, right? And one of the the speeches he made was about why a worker from Bihar is going and working in, Gujarat for half of what a worker from Gujarat would get paid, and why because of that labor pool there is no investment in growing industry in Bihar, and he was questioning that. So he was saying, "Why are we doing this? Why are our children working for such little money in other states, and why are we not building capacity in our own state?" So this sort of, like, self-assertion, but linked not just to something very abstract, but linked to something that is very relatable to the common man. That, I think, is quite powerful to see whether that translates- Well, that, but that is not a new conversation. See, that's what I'm saying, like, we are crediting Prashant Kishor with a, with a lot that is, I mean, I, I just as a, as somebody, I'm not, a, an academic for sure. I've just been on the ground. the RJD raised this- Mm-hmm during COVID, right? that time, Nitish Kumar, if you remember, stopped migrants from entering Bihar. Yes, yeah. This was the COVID time, right? And I was there on the ground. It was horrible. there was nothing on, nothing being done. like few months later when I went back to report during the elections, that time, the migrant workers were there. They were forced to go back. There was nothing to do. They were all sitting under trees or in open fields. There was nothing to eat. Whatever, like dignity, I think needs to be looked at. you know, it's, it's a plank of social justice as well, right? I mean- Of course … and where you talk about dignity, it's not just, about, fixing somebody's income or anything like that, but also caste. I mean, a lot of dignity in India is still tied to the caste dynamic. I think. That's what I'm saying. If, for Prashant Kishor to not address caste- Mm-hmm … I think, it might, it, I mean, I, as a suggestion, if I were to say, he should, he should look at it. Yeah … invariably, I have seen in my, journalism or whatever reportage that caste and class are mixed. Now, factories were there in Bihar. They got shut down. People have been raising this question. In Mokama and all, if you see a lot of these empty factories there, the lands are being leased out to big companies, for one rupee or whatever. And, that's what is happening, right? So, see, to talk about these things is easy, right? But- Or action … how are they gonna do that? Mm-hmm. No, also, I think a plan. I mean- Mm … what I have seen that, nobody gives a plan. Nobody says exactly how they're gonna do it. they just talk big things, but, the reality is that Bihar is considered as a feeder state. It's a migrant… Like, you know, you- That's what, that's what people think yeah, like Jharkhand, extraction economy. I mean, so you need to have workers coming from somewhere, and, that's why no attempt has been made. so why do we have to leave? Like, I'm from Bihar. Why do we leave? There is nothing over here. Right. So I think that, some of that needs to change and people need to draw plans for that. I mean, I just saw some posters where they've announced that they will open this sugar factory, that sugar factory, but we'll see. Yes. You know, because- Yeah … I'm from Bengal, I somehow always feel like, you know, twin destinies of Bihar and Bengal- Yeah … and how they emerge, right? There's so much of, connection there. That's a different conversation. But what I wanted to end with is I always want to know, like, what is the perspective of the women, right? And it's obviously it's not a monolith, but you know, when you talk about everyday issues, how are women sort of reacting? Do you see… Which we saw with the protests, at least with the student protests, that a lot of young women really took center stage in leadership, right? Do you see that as a, as a sort of a new wave? Do you see hope in women in, in Bihar sort of leading any sort of different thinking, different change, being given opportunities or making opportunities for themselves? I don't, I don't know. I mean, see, I'll answer this question, like, okay. I'm yet to see a lot of political representation or opportunities that will be given to women, right? And the simple thing is that, if you look at, every, any industry, let's say, glass ceiling is for real. media, for instance, which shapes a lot of conversation, doesn't have many women. Or at least in the leadership roles, the women are relegated to lifestyle or whatever health and education that they think are, the male, uh- Issues editors think are, like, not very, sexy beats. so I'm saying that it's a, it's a chronic problem. I mean, you have to fix that, otherwise, you know, you will only see male heroes emerge and women will have to kind of like, you know, be on the sidelines. If you see any poster, like women are here or there, like it's a solar system. And then the man. Mm-hmm. And there's a man in the middle. So my only thing is that, yes, women are very important in Bihar elections, as you can say from, the women as a vote bank. Right. But only as a vote bank. There's not much representation that I have seen. in fact, even the left parties, for instance, my only issue was that you only gave ticket to one person, one woman, Divya Gautam. You did not give a ticket to, women. so I think- Women are not considered bankable. Is that, is there, like, you know- Because I think that is coming from a mindset- Thank you … that you think women are not capable, women are not political enough, women can't do much. Mm-hmm. But if I see Neha Vora from, ISA, you know, at the cockroach and the party, I think she's the most- Mm-hmm articulate one in a way that she has showed up for Junaid. And she… See, that's what women do differently, I s- I feel. Some women, I'm not talking about, like, a lot of women can be either patriarchy enablers or whatever. But she has, shown more consistency, more courage, and more political articulation, which is in a way, kind of like very measured- Mm but kind of very revolutionary also. And I think that is the leadership, that you need right now, which, uh- And, you know, it's so true what you said, because the thing is that there isn't also that sort of role modeling, right? When you see someone as proficient in Hindi as she's in English, you know, has real clarity in the way she speaks. How many women I can imagine are looking at her and feeling like, "This is possible," right?"This is possible." No, and also the other thing is that, see, look … I mean, I don't know how controversial it is, but I'll say this. So as I, for instance, I was, at this Janta Mantar protest. And I know the Gen Z is great when it comes to, being vocal and, they have a lot more courage because unlike us, they are not, interested in, being the person who's Like, this people-pleasing behavior that came in the generation- Mm … that kind of we grew up in was different, right? And- Yeah … now I feel that it actually really harmed us because we were always trying to, do this trope of dignity. That you be dignified, you be whatever. Oh, absolutely. yeah. But I feel that- Mm you know, this, you know, abusing. Like, this is why this whole Sanskar culture, all of this debate is coming about. What I feel is that one of the things that I noticed was very interesting is that, uh- At the protest itself, they said, "Azadi ban karo slogan," like the Azadi slogan was banned. Yeah. But they said we'll say Bharat Mata ki Jai. Now, I have a problem with that only in the sense that firstly, the origins of Bharat Mata. Now you have to un- like you have to look at history, like that's why I'm saying Humanities then I told you that you should do this discussion. I will. Humanities is very important, right? to understand what we are using and how, right? again, the look at the, the use of a woman as a Bharat Mata, I think that we need to break free from, because that is actually what is imposing this whole culture sanskar on us. Like we are supposed to behave like that, goddesses, right? Mm-hmm. I mean, we need to step off that, and I think that's what Gen Z has done, and I, I hope political parties see that and they kind of push more women, pu- push more women forward in terms of like, uh… Because I do actually really feel that women look at politics very differently than men. Women are a very important factor in, at least in Bihar elections now that we saw Nitish Kumar, kind of like looking at women as a possible, constituency itself. And, obviously it was studied, in great detail because, you know, Nitish Kumar did not have a core constituency like the RJD or- Mm-hmm BJP in that sense, right? The BJP always had the upper crust. RJD always had the Muslim and the Yadav. Then in between- Right … you had the EWS and the other categories. So Nitish played really smart, looked at women, and saw women had the potential to break, like, from, like, whatever was holding them back in terms of caste and class. Now, this is not true for all women- Right … but majority, right? what I feel is that the representation of women is still very less, uh- Mm … in politics. And, if you look at, representation in terms of leadership, and that's why the Women's Reservation Bill kind of became whatever. But I have seen that, in all the industries that matter where public discourses are being shaped, I think they're all led by men, who kind of, look at, women very differently and not capable enough to understand politics. And this I've got … I've also heard many times in my own, career. But, if you look at, like, we did one issue in March about how media looks at women, like Phoolan Devi, obviously. Yes. Now, Phoolan Devi, story is actually really fascinating. It's a great lesson in politics as to how women are used and then kind of abused and then thrown out, right? It's horrible. Mm. Yeah. And, and, and Phoolan Devi, if you still go to the village, you'll, you'll… Actually every time, like, I've gone to that village, I've been there twice. I've l- I have found interesting things, right? Like, every time you kind of come across … And what we did in that issue was look at how, women are referred to. In terms of, like, how they dress. You know, there's a lot of interest in terms of, if- even if you look at crime against women or perpetrated by women, a lot of interest is, how did she look like, or, like, the body- Yeah … you know, the face, the, the, the, uh, the thing. And i- if you look at the Sia Goel case, there was a lot of interest in the Sia Goel case because obviously voyeurism, men love this kind of stuff. Yeah … there are so many other women were getting killed and nobody's talking about that. Look at how paparazzi is framing who wore what to the parliament. I mean, I just find it hilarious, right? Like, so, the… If you look at all these photograph, because that's what we are consuming and that's what we are expected to consume as, for women leaders. Nobody's talking about what, men are wearing. Maybe a little bit, but not so much in detail. But every day you'll see, like, a Kangana Ranaut, like, carrying Hermes or whatever, Dimple Yadav wearing this, this one wearing that. I mean, that is the discussion I'm saying. So, you know, I'm just saying that- Yeah, reducing their political weight to entertainment is really… I mean, and end of the day, if you think of it in the bigger picture, the losses to the country, it's not just to… It's not the particular loss to that woman. You're really, like, you're underserved as a country when you don't recognize the power that, women's political consciousness can bring. So, no, that's, that's a great point. We'll finish with, again, circling back- Yeah … to Prashant Kishor. one of the things, of course, is that obviously at a time like this, emotions are very high, right? People, people get carried away, swept away. So if, from a pragmatic point of view from someone who studied Bihar quite closely, if you were to say, and this is hypothetical, but if you were to say that there were three things to focus on to really cement this win and expand in the benefit of Bihar, what are those things you would say? Okay, so one thing is I've not really studied Bihar. I've felt Bihar . Like, you know. Fair. All right. So I've known Bihar. three things, that, can help Prashant Kishor, you mean? Yes, and the party. Look, he's a brilliant strategist. He will … He knows better what can fix him. I think, one of the things that, he needs to probably do is maybe be less arrogant and less sure, because politics in Bihar or anywhere else operates differently. And now we see a lot of this backlash against arrogance, right? Mm. Which is what Gen Z has, taught us. And I think there's a lot more accountability now in terms of, because this generation is born with this, with your phone. so they are documenting everything. So maybe… Because, you know, they'll dig up, like, things that you said, like some 20 years ago- Yeah and kind of like contrast it, whatnot. So I think that is one. The second is, I think, look at caste and class also in Bihar, because that is, also, with, employment and education, I think they're all interlinked. I think you need to start that conversation in a different way, in a- Yeah in maybe a more Prashant Kishor way, but you have to, kind of, look at that. And I think, the other thing is to, not have attack- as your main, game thing, you know, like saying, "Now we fail," or whatever. It's a democracy. Anybody can get elected. That's the beauty of a democracy, that you don't have to be literate. Like, you don't have to have a certificate, right? Mm-hmm. which I also saw in Jan Adhikar Protection, you know, a lot of times … That's right. Yeah, but like- And I, I just thought that was a, a bit, not okay, not dignified enough. Mm. So I think maybe to call somebody now we fail, sat we fail, which is also being said for Samrat Chaudhary. I think we need to get beyond personal attacks. I think that there was a lot of that I saw in, Bihar elections. And I think a lot more transparency is the fourth one that I would expect from Jan Suraaj as to who they are. I still don't know, uh- Mm … what they are about in Bihar's politics. Like, if you ask me about RJT, JTU, I, I, I can tell you. You would know. Right? Like, I would know because they have been there, and it's a So I don't know who they are. Are they a mix of RJT, JTU, or is it like a BJP with a new, a new kind of agenda, like a fresh thing? Who … I don't know who are they. So I think that they need to work on a bit more, yeah, I guess. And I think what you said, one last point adding to everything you said, is what's the plan, right? Yeah. What's the plan? So you made a lot of statements. You've said a lot of right things, which seem commonsensical things. They n- may not be novel, but you've said them with conviction. Now the follow-through is what people will be waiting for. And thank you so much, Chinki. Always- Yeah … such a pleasure to talk to you.