Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], February 14 (ANI): Acclaimed filmmaker Prakash Jha, who is known for his engagement with socio-political issues, shared his perspective on electoral politics, the role of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the influence of a political strategist and chief of Jan Suraaj, Prashant Kishor in Bihar politics.
In an exclusive conversation with ANI, he said, “I am following Nitish Kumar. I am following Prashant Kishor. I am following Mr Modi. I am following Amit Shah. I follow everybody.”
While throwing light on Bihar politics and if Nitish Kumar has still the same impact on the people and the way Prashant Kishor is working in the state to increase his popularity, he said, “I don’t want to be judgmental because what people are doing or thinking is something I can’t tell. Because tomorrow election happens and they completely behave in a different manner. I have seen that happening with myself. What Prashant Kishor is doing, he is making his contact with the ground. And he is talking sense. But will that translate into political power or political affiliation? I have no idea. I can only say that when he says that ‘ki tum 500 rupee lekar ek pouch lekar agar vote dedoge jo kharcha kar raha hai vo apna investment to vasoolega tumse’. It’s exactly like the ex-DGP of Bihar saying that when a criminal comes out of jail and you make him wear a garland, then you can’t expect us to stop the crime.”
Jha had contested elections in the past, however, now he is not so keen about it. He said he didn’t want to contest. I had given up in 2009. He said, “I had done my bit. I wanted to kind of like you know devote 10 years to public life because I sincerely saw that the Member of Parliament, who is elected from a large constituency and has access to almost every resource because when you sit in parliament if you want to do you can approach every section of the nation and beyond in terms of resource. You can do things in your constituency.”
The ace director feels that people in power can do a lot, though they don’t know exactly how to utilise the power. Jha said, “I just kind of like you know even when we were preparing for 5 years, we were working a lot in the constituency. And we were able to generate lots of jobs. I just wanted to kind of show what exactly a member of parliament can do in a constituency. It didn’t happen. So that, unfortunately, if there was a written exam for that, to become an MP, I would have worked hard and won. But you need the vote of the people. I didn’t fight the last election either. I have never been to the constituency after that,” he said.
The multiple National Award-winning director has acclaimed films like ‘Damul’, ‘Mrityudand’, ‘Gangaajal’, ‘Apaharan’, ‘Raajneeti’ among others. (ANI)
