Ram Vilas Paswan was less active in the political space in the later days. On the contrary, he was the symbol of the party and his brother Pashupatinath Paras was in a way responsible for running the party. His hold on the party was also good and for this reason, when Ram Vilas Paswan was no more, uncle Pashupatinath Paras left with all the MPs in the midst of family discord, during the split in LJP. Till then BJP and political analysts also felt that the real LJP is with Pashupatinath Paras only. But this is India where the politics of inheritance is still going on with full vigor and probably will continue even now, even after facing all the allegations of nepotism. Perhaps that is why it should not be a surprise if Chirag Paswan is seen taking oath as a Union Minister in the Union Cabinet expansion to be held in the next few days. And this will happen because Chirag Paswan in Bihar is today the sole heir of Ram Vilas Paswan and his political legacy. He has proved this through electoral politics as well as through popular perception.
Not less than 6% votes!
JD(U) and BJP were together in the 2020 assembly elections but Chirag Paswan was different from NDA. Ram Vilas Paswan had died during the elections itself. The uncle-nephew relationship was strained and there was a problem with the BJP regarding seat sharing as well. In such a situation, Chirag Paswan decided to contest on 135 seats and fielded candidates in most of the seats from where JD(U) candidates were in the fray. However, it was also said that he was doing all this at the behest of the BJP. The result was that he could not win his party by getting about 6 percent votes, but he was successful in reducing the number of seats of JD(U) to 28 as compared to the last election. It was believed that it was because of Nitish Kumar that Chirag Paswan stayed out of the Bihar NDA. Despite this, Chirag Paswan always described himself as Modi’s Hanuman and never went against the BJP. Through the 2020 assembly elections, he had already shown his mettle and remained active while constantly focusing on Bihar.
New Equations New Partners
After listening to the voice of conscience once again by Nitish Kumar, BJP is again alone in Bihar. In such a situation, he needs new companions. Recently, he took Jitan Ram Manjhi in his fold, but no matter how many claims Manjhi makes, he does not have the ability to influence more than 1 to 2 percent votes in electoral politics. Mukesh Sahni is certainly looking a bit more active in Bihar politics these days and the center is also trying to woo him by giving him Y category security, but it is difficult to say where he will go till the end. . Upendra Kushwaha and Chirag Paswan were left. At this time BJP is in dire need of such a partner who can hold at least 5-6 percent Dalit votes and Chirag Paswan is the only such leader. The BJP may no longer believe that Pashupati Nath Paras will be able to get votes for the BJP by carrying forward the legacy of Ram Vilas Paswan, whereas Chirag Paswan has almost proved that he is the real successor of Ram Vilas Paswan’s political legacy.
Chirag Paswan has met Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai and now the formalities of his joining the NDA have been completed. What could be the terms of this deal, it can only be said that Chirag Paswan would like to take his father’s traditional seat of Hajipur in the next Lok Sabha elections and also the ministry which was held by his father and is currently held by his uncle. . So let’s wait and see if Pashupatinath Paras gets replaced by his nephew?
Bihar of youth!
The command of youth Bihar’s politics is now more or less in the hands of the youth. After Tejashwi, Chirag, Kanhaiya, PK, understanding this truth, BJP has also handed over the command of the state to a young man, Samrat Chowdhary. About 56 percent of Bihar’s voters are in the age group between 18 and 40 years. There should be no surprise if Bihar gets a young Chief Minister after Nitish Kumar. Young leaders like Chirag Paswan are becoming popular not only among the youth of his caste but also of all castes in Bihar. Anyway, since the days of Ram Vilas Paswan, LJP’s strategy has been to include all castes, especially the general castes. Whatever may be the reason, muscle power or money power, most of the LJP candidates have come from Rajput, Bhumihar and Brahmin castes.
Even today the state president of LJP is a former MLA coming from Brahmin caste. In the last 1-2 years, it has been seen that whenever Chirag Paswan is on a tour of remote areas of Bihar, the number of youth in them is decent. His popularity can also be seen among the youth through social media. Now how much all these numbers translate into election results depends on many factors, but one thing is clear from this that it is almost impossible for the BJP to ignore Chirag Paswan in Bihar at this time. The final result can be seen in the next 3-4 days. However, in the era of national political tussle between uncle and nephew, after Maharashtra, once again in Bihar, nephew is going to overpower uncle.
