New Delhi:

Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) President, Chirag Paswan, addressed his status as a “nepotism kid” in a podcast with news agency ANI. As the son of Ram Vilas Paswan, the founder of the undivided LJP, Mr Paswan acknowledged his privilege but also highlighted the inherent challenges of being the son of an influential political leader. 

Mr Paswan, who serves as the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries in Modi 3.0, said, “I am a nepo kid, I can’t shy away from that fact. I am proud that I am the son of Ram Vilas Paswan. For me, it is a matter of pride.”

“If you do good work, people say that it is because of your parents. So the credit is not yours. But if you do bad, then you will hear abuses. So you are always on a double-edged sword,” he added. 

Despite his privileged position as the son of a party leader, Mr Paswan claimed that his rise to the party’s leadership was not automatic. He had to prove himself, especially after the split within the LJP orchestrated by his uncle, Pashupati Paras. 

Mr Paras, Ram Vilas Paswan’s brother, was the MP from Hajipur, a constituency with a strong Paswan vote bank. However, the last assembly polls indicated that the 6 per cent Paswan vote had consolidated behind Chirag Paswan, a factor the BJP considered when excluding Pashupati Paras from the seat-sharing arrangement for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Ram Vilas Paswan had secured the Hajipur seat eight times, with four consecutive victories starting in 1996. In the 2024 polls, Chirag Paswan won the seat by over 1.7 lakh votes.

“I lost everything – the party, the symbol, the organisation, and the house we stayed in for three decades. So everything was taken away from me. I had to start from scratch; I did not even know how to make a new party,” Chirag Paswan said.

Following the LJP split, Chirag Paswan contested the 2020 Bihar assembly elections independently, fielding candidates solely against the JD(U), despite remaining within the NDA fold. He led his party’s revival through the “Ashirwad Yatra” in Bihar, ahead of the 2024 general elections. A staunch supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Paswan’s party won all five seats it contested, making it the only NDA partner with a 100 per cent win rate. 
 

Nitish Kumar today appeared to be asking for votes for late Ram Vilas Paswan, the veteran leader from Bihar who died in 2020. However, the 73-year-old Chief Minister quickly course corrected and pitched for Chirag Paswan, the late leader’s son.  

“Bihar ka koi bhi kaam peeche nahi rahega, har tarah se hoga, isliye toh hum log kehne aaye hai ki bhai Ram Vilas ji ko dijiye, ek baari (No work of Bihar will be left behind, it will be done in every way. That is why we have come to say that please vote for Ram Vilas Paswan,” said the Chief Minister.

Swiftly changing course, the Chief Minister then appealed for votes for Chirag Paswan, a second-generation politician, fighting from Hajipur – a seat represented by Senior Paswan nine times.

“Ram Vilas ji ke putra ko aap dijiye, Chirag Paswan ji ko (Please vote for Ram Vilas Paswan’s son Chirag Paswan),” said the Chief Minister in Hajipur. 

“Aur jab itna jyada dete hi the Ram Vilas Paswan ji ko, lekin aap inko dijiye abhi toh naujawan hain, ye aage badhega aur khoob kaam karega (You used to vote overwhelmingly for Ram Vilas Paswan ji, now vote for Chirag Paswan. He is young and will do a lot of work),” said the Chief Minister amid loud cheers and a round of applause. 

The acrimony between Mr Kumar and Junior Paswan, both back in the BJP-led NDA, appeared a thing of the past. 

Chirag Paswan, 41, has pledged eternal loyalty to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In a dramatic Hanuman metaphor, he has said that the image of PM Modi is seared in his heart and will be visible to anyone if, like Lord Hanuman, he slashes open his chest.  

“I am terribly missing my father. This is the first time when I will have to file nomination papers with him not around. He was there to bless me both in 2014 and 2019,” Mr Paswan, who calls himself a “Yuva Bihari”, told reporters after filing his nomination on Thursday.

Chirag Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) has got five seats in Bihar as per the seat-sharing formula decided by the BJP-led coalition.

He was the national president of Lok Janshakti Party, founded by late Paswan, until it was split in 2021 by the latter’s younger brother Pashupati Kumar Paras.

Pashupati Paras currently holds the Hajipur seat, which will vote in the fifth phase on May 20 in the ongoing marathon six week Lok Sabha polls.  

The 40 seats in Bihar are undergoing polls in all seven phases. In 2019, BJP-led NDA swept the state by winning 39 out of 40 seats, while Congress won just one seat. Lalu Yadav’s RJD, a formidable force in the state, failed to open its account.

The Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance), the opposition coalition in Bihar, including Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress, and Left parties, have announced that the RJD, its largest constituent, will contest 26 seats.

As part of the NDA, BJP and JD(U) will contest on 17 and 16 seats, respectively. Jitan Ram Manjhi’s Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha will contest one seat each.

The votes will be counted on June 4.