Working with Prashant Kishor

I was in a crowd of more than a hundred professionals. We were part of Team Prashant Kishor, waiting for him to arrive. It was the first time I was going to see him so closely in the Patna office.

- Gaurow Gupta

As team members, a day before every such interaction, preparations would begin. We revised caste data, block names, local leaders, booth dynamics—every micro-detail of the area where we were deployed.

After waiting for hours, he finally arrived. There was something different about his presence—an aura difficult to explain. I remember feeling mesmerised.

The meeting, however, was not about grand strategy. He asked whether we were comfortable in our work. Any issues with accommodation or travel? It was a reminder that political machinery ultimately runs on human endurance.

Despite warnings not to ask “silly questions,” one boy said, “The hotel is serving puri and oily sabji.” Calmly, Kishor replied, “You get enough salary to buy fruits. Take it.”

The room relaxed.

What struck me most about Kishor was his composure. He carried in his memory the constituency-level politics of almost the whole of Bihar. He could recall people he had met during his yatra even two years ago.

After that, I met him several times. Every time, the ritual was the same—prepare block-level details thoroughly. Being from Bihar, I already knew the realities—of education, of jobs, of migration... But working in that ecosystem, under that intensity, made those realities sharper. Politics was no longer abstract theory; it was granular, lived, and relentless.