Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Chirag Paswan once famously referred to himself as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Hanuman’. However, after a bitter tussle between him and his estranged uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras – a Union cabinet minister – over his eviction from the official bungalow in Delhi allotted to his late father and former Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, equations seem to be changing.
Forced to vacate 12 Janpath, Chirag Paswan said that his uncle “should be ashamed that the pictures of his brother, whom he calls his God, were trampled upon by the government of which he is a minister”. To retaliate, Paras said whatever was happening “because he (Chirag) betrayed the alliance, my brother was part of it”.
Speaking to ThePrint, Chirag Paswan seemed non-committal when asked if he is still the Prime Minister’s ‘Hanuman’.
Chirag Paswan said that he made this remark when his father was on ventilator. “The PM of that time kept calling not only me but also the doctors treating him (Ram Vilas Paswan). PM Modi was like a guardian and I was deeply indebted to him for standing by me in times of crisis,” said the LJP MP from Bihar’s Jamui seat.
With the state gearing up for assembly elections three years away, Chirag Paswan is keeping his options open. He has found tacit support from Bihar’s Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav as well as former CM and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partner Jitan Ram Manjhi, who criticized the way the late Ram Vilas Paswan’s belongings were thrown out of Lutyens’ Delhi bungalow. Had it. Lasted for 30 years. However, LJP leaders are silent about their plans for 2025.
What happened in the 2020 election?
Ahead of the 2020 Bihar Assembly elections, the LJP quit the BJP-led NDA alliance after Chirag Paswan’s offer to contest on 20 seats was rejected.
Soon, the LJP decided to contest all the 122 seats on which Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) had fielded its candidates as an ally of the NDA.
During the elections, several senior BJP leaders left the party and joined the LJP. Though PM Modi decided not to attack Chirag Paswan during the election campaign, state leaders like Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and BJP’s Bihar unit chief Sanjay Jaiswal claimed that Chirag Paswan was trying to mislead voters. and LJP was not a part of NDA in Bihar.
While the LJP managed to win only one seat in the assembly elections, it shocked the JD(U), garnering 5.5 per cent votes and ensuring that the JD(U) candidates lost more than 40 assembly seats. This gave Nitish Kumar’s party the status of ‘junior partner’ within the NDA with only 43 seats.
However, Chirag Paswan’s happiness was short-lived. Moving from his party to the JD(U) meant that Paswan’s descendant lost his lone MLA in April 2021. He was also denied the Rajya Sabha seat that had fallen vacant after the death of his father, which Chirag wanted for his mother, Reena Paswan.
Yet another setback came in October 2021 when the LJP split and Chirag’s uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras separated five Lok Sabha MPs from his nephew. Paras took oath as a Union Cabinet Minister in April 2021.
12, Janpath controversy
On March 30, Chirag Paswan suffered another setback when housing ministry officials barged into 12, Janpath, the official bungalow of Ram Vilas Paswan for more than three decades, and threw his belongings outside.
Distressed Chirag said he was assured that there would be no problem with his stay in the bungalow and blamed CM Nitish Kumar and his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras for “creating pressure” on the Centre.
Chirag said, “My uncle should be ashamed that the government in which he is a minister has crushed the pictures of his brother, whom he calls his God.”
Paras refuted the allegations and said that if Chirag Paswan had been in the alliance, he would not have had any problem. He said that as far as the bungalow is concerned, he got six notices and lost in the Delhi High Court.
What next for the Paswan descendants?
According to a senior party leader who spoke to ThePrint, the LJP chief has not given any indication as to what his strategy will be for the 2025 state assembly elections and will wait and see before taking a final decision.
His candidates lost their deposits in the by-elections to two assembly seats last year, but they still had more votes than the Congress candidates.
Now, it is a battle for the survival of Chirag Paswan, who wants to maintain his father’s rich legacy along with his political relevance.
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