WEB DESK
Union Minister and a leading Dalit leader of the country Ram Vilas Paswan, who recently underwent heart surgery at Delhi’s Fortis hospital, passed away late on Thursday.
Paswan (74), who had been in active politics for more than five decades and was one of the country’s most noted Dalit leaders, has been hospitalised for the last few weeks.
Miss you papa, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief Chirag Paswan tweeted while informing about his the leader’s demise.
Ram Vilas Pawan was elected as MLA for the first time in 1969. In 2019, he finished 50 years in political life. He serves as minister in cabinets of five former Prime Ministers.
Chirag had last week tweeted: “For the last many days dad is getting treated in a hospital. Due to some sudden developments on Saturday evening, an operation of his heart had to be conducted in the late night. If the need arises, then possibly after a few weeks another operation might be conducted. Thanks to all for standing by me and my family in this hour of struggle.”
Paswan too had said earlier that he finally got admitted at a hospital after Chirag realised he was ill and insisted that he get treated. He, however, did not reveal then what the illness was. Some media reports have stated he is suffering from multiple health issues, including per-existing heart conditions. He had undergone heart related procedures earlier.
“I am happy that my son Chirag is with me at this time and is doing all possible service. Along with taking care of me, he us also fulfilling his responsibilities towards the party,” he wrote on Twitter.
Along with news of his personal health, Paswan also backed his son to take the call on LJP’s alliances for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections. “I stand firmly with every decision of his. I am confident that with his youthful thinking, Chirag will take the party and Bihar to new heights,” Paswan said.
From a DSP to Union Minister
Ramvilas Paswan was born in a Dalit family on 5 July 1946 in Shaharbanni, Khagaria district of Bihar to Jamun Paswan and Siya Devi. Paswan holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Arts degrees from Kosi College, Khagaria and Patna University. He had been selected as a DSP in Bihar police in 1969.
Paswan was elected to the Bihar state legislative assembly in 1969 as a member of the Samyukta Socialist Party (“United Socialist Party”) from a reserved constituency. In 1974, as an ardent follower of Raj Narain and Jayaprakash Narayan Paswan became the general secretary of the Lok Dal. He was personally close to the prominent leaders of anti-emergency like Raj Narain, Karpoori Thakur. Paswan parted ways with Morarji Desai and joined Janata Party-S led by Lokbandhu Raj Narain as party’s president and later as its Chairman.
In 1975, when emergency was proclaimed in India, Paswan was arrested and spent the entire period in jail. On being released in 1977, he became a member of the Janata Party and won election to Parliament for the first time on its ticket, and he held the world record for winning the election by highest margin.
Paswan was re-elected to the 7th Lok Sabha in 1980 and 1984 from Hajipur constituency. In 1983, he established the Dalit Sena, an organisation for Dalit emancipation and welfare. The Dalit Sena was later headed by his brother Ram Chandra Paswan .Later It was renamed as Scheduled Caste sena in a vein similar to the Scheduled Caste federation established by Bhim Rao Ambedkar.
Paswan was re-elected to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989 and was appointed Union Minister of Labour and Welfare in the Vishwanath Pratap Singh government. In 1996, he even led the ruling alliance or Proposition in the Lok Sabha as the Prime Minister was a member of the Rajya Sabha. This was also the year when Paswan first became the Union Railway Minister. He continued to hold that post till 1998. Thereafter, Paswan was the Union Communications Minister from October 1999 to September 2001 when he was shifted to the Coal Ministry, the portfolio he held till April 2002.
In 2000, Paswan broke from the Janata Dal, to form the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). Following the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Paswan joined the United Progressive Alliance government and was made the Union Minister in Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and Ministry of Steel.
In the February 2005 Bihar State elections, Paswan’s party LJP along with the Indian National Congress contested the election. The result was that no particular party or alliance could form a government by itself. However, Paswan consistently refused to support either Laloo Yadav, whom he accused of being extremely corrupt, or the right-wing National Democratic Alliance thereby creating a stalemate. This stalemate was broken when Nitish Kumar succeeded in persuading 12 members of Paswan’s party to defect; to prevent the formation of a government supported by LJP defectors, the Governor of Bihar, Buta Singh dissolved the state legislature and called for fresh elections, keeping Bihar under President’s Rule. In the November 2005 Bihar state elections, Paswan’s third-alliance was utterly devastated; the Laloo Yadav-Congress alliance reduced to a minority and the NDA formed the new government.
Paswan together with Lalu Prasad Yadav (center) and Amar Singh (left) at a party rally in Mumbai during the 2009 general elections.
Paswan has declared that the Bihar state elections have no influence on the Central Government, which will continue with both him and Laloo Yadav as ministers. Paswan has served as a Union Minister under five different Prime Ministers and continuously held a cabinet berth in all the Council of Ministers formed since 1996 (as of 2015). He was also part of all the national coalitions (the United Front, the National Democratic Alliance and the United Progressive Alliance), which have formed the Indian Government from 1996 to 2015.
For the 2009 Indian general election Paswan forged an alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav and his Rashtriya Janata Dal, while dumping their erstwhile coalition partner and leader of the United Progressive Alliance, the Indian National Congress from the new alliance. The duo was later joined by Mulayam Singh’s Samajwadi Party and were declared the Fourth Front. Paswan lost the elections from Hajipur to the Janata Dal’s Ram Sundar Das, a former Chief Minister of Bihar for the first time in 33 years. His party the Lok Janshakti Party was not able to win any seats in the 15th Lok Sabha, while his coalition partner Yadav and his party too failed to perform well and were reduced to 4 seats.