Lantern Light For Chirag

It is the sort of midnight coup that could lead to a shake-up in Bihar’s politics. Or just fade into the night. But it’s just the sort of drama that has sent tongues wagging and the rumour mill working overtime in the state. The dethroning of Chirag Paswan by a section of his own party men in the LJP and the royal snub to the beleaguered young leader by the BJP could very well pave the way for a fresh realignment of opposition forces, especially the young turks in the fight against the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government.

RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, 31, sent out an invitation to Chirag, 38, to join hands and work together for Nitish’s ouster. Come July 5, his party will observe Ram Vilas Paswan’s birth anniversary to underscore the late Dalit leader’s “lifelong fight for the rights of the underprivileged people”.  The RJD leader says that Chirag can carry forward his father’s legacy only by joining the ‘existential fight’ against RSS ideologue Golwalkar’s thoughts.

Chirag has not yet responded to Tejashwi’s feelers, but has expressed happiness over RJD’s decision to celebrate Paswan’s birth anniversary. “Tejashwi is like my younger brother. It will send a message to the people how sensitive the new generation is towards its elders,” he says. “Ram Vilas Paswan and Lalu Prasad shared a close friendship.”

Chirag, on his part, will kick off his state-wide ‘Ashirwad Yatra’ from his father’s Hajipur constituency on the same day to “expose the treachery” of his uncle, Pashupati Kumar Paras, who recently led a revolt of party MPs and declared himself to be the ‘real’ inheritor of his elder brother Paswan’s legacy.

Even as uncle and nephew fight it out to take control of the party, political commentators believe that after being cold-shouldered by the BJP, it is the best option for Chirag to join hands with Tejashwi, as it will not only help him regain his ground in Bihar, but also strengthen him politically in his fight against Nitish Kumar who, he thinks, is responsible for the split in his party. “It will be beneficial for both Chirag and Tejashwi in the long run,” says economist Nawal Kishor Choudhary.”

While Chirag may get a shot in the arm with Tejashwi’s support, the RJD also stands to gain because of LJP’s long-standing support base among the dominant Paswan voters. In the 2020 assembly polls, LJP may not have won more than one seat, but it had a voteshare of 5.66 per cent. In successive elections, LJP has had a similar or bigger voteshare in Bihar. RJD apparently thinks that it will be Chirag and not Paras who will get the support of Paswan voters. That is why Tejashwi has wasted no time in indicating the revival of an alliance that was once stitched by Lalu Prasad and Paswan. But the moot point remains: has BJP ‘abandoned’ a loyalist like Chirag?

Choudhary says that the BJP may not have a direct hand in the LJP’s coup, but it has remained a mute spectator so far. “BJP will not gain anything by losing Chirag, but if it has to choose between Nitish and Chirag, it will obviously choose Nitish.” He says after its defeat in Bengal polls, the BJP cannot afford to antagonise Nitish who still has several options to ­explore, with or without BJP by his side. “Who knows he can even try his luck at the Centre and emerge a consensus Opposition candidate against Narendra Modi in 2024,” he adds. The BJP’s apparent indifference to his current predicament has doubtless left Chirag a bitter man. Since 2014, he has been a vocal supporter of Modi, but now he finds himself abandoned.

After Paswan’s defeat in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections from Hajipur, it was RJD president Lalu Prasad who had helped his erstwhile ally get elected to Rajya Sabha with the help of his party MLAs. Ironically, it was Chirag who later persuaded his father to break his ties with Lalu and join hands with Modi ahead of the 2014 parliamentary polls. Since then, Chirag has been extremely critical of RJD, but now Tejashwi’s support may give him the boost he desperately needs to get even with both Nitish and Paras.

Last month, when Paras rose in revolt against his nephew, it left many political pundits surprised. After all, the Paswan family has been known over the years for maintaining unity in politics. It was acknowledged as a political dynasty that stayed together in good and bad times.

Since its inception in the year 2000, the LJP has been considered a party of Paswan’s family. Even now, three of LJP’s six MPs in the Lok Sabha—Chirag, his uncle Paras and his cousin Prince Raj—belong to this family. It is an open secret that they always gave importance to family over party. Regardless of the allegations of nepotism, their mutual love for each other ­always outweighed their political ambitions.

All that, however, changed. Chirag now holds Nitish squarely responsible for breaking his party and family. “Nitish has been trying to break the solidarity of Dalit voters for a long time,” says Chirag. “He even tried to divide the Dalits into Dalits and Mahadalits.”

Chirag alleges that Nitish had been poaching LJP MLAs from the time of his father. Many political pundits also believe that Nitish had worked from behind the scenes to split LJP to teach Chirag a lesson for his temerity to field his party’s candidates against JD(U) in the last assembly polls. Nitish not only had to suffer a loss of around 35 seats, but it also reduced Nitish’s ­status from being the elder brother to the junior partner in his ­alliance with BJP.

Nitish, however, vehemently denies all allegations. He says it is an internal matter of LJP and he has nothing to do with it. “We have no role (in the LJP split). Someone (Chirag) speaks about us only to get publicity, we have nothing to do with it,” he said. Political commentators, however, still think that the split is not just an internal matter of LJP. Economist Choudhary says it is quite clear that Nitish has a hand in the split as some of his confidants in JD(U) were present at the meeting where five rebel LJP MPs passed a resolution to make Paras the leader of the party.

It is said that Nitish has been upset with Chirag not only bec­ause he fielded his candidates against him, but also because he ridiculed Nitish’s claims of development, and talked about sending him to jail on corruption charges. JD(U) leaders also have had a nagging suspicion that Chirag had fielded his candidates against JD(U) at the behest of the BJP to undermine Nitish’s status. Despite rebuttals by BJP leaders, JD(U) leaders are not ready to acc­ept that Chirag had done it all without BJP’s tacit support. Now, with the LJP’s spilt, Nitish appears to have killed two birds with the same stone. On one hand, Chirag stands forlorn in his own party; on the other, Nitish has been able to send out a message in loud and clear terms that he still has a few trump cards left to keep BJP on a tight leash.

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Paswan Parivar

Ram Vilas Paswan

Family patriarch, founder of Lok Janshakti Party in 2000, eight-time MP. Elected MLA for first time in 1969. Elected to Lok Sabha from Hajipur in 1977 by a record margin that earned him a place in the Guinness book. Rajya Sabha member twice.

Pashupati Kumar Paras

Paswan’s younger brother, now MP from Hajipur. Seven-time MLA from Alauli in Khagaria district. A former minister, he headed the state unit of LJP for several years.

Ram Chandra Paswan

Four-term MP who passed away after 2019 general elections. Headed Dalit Sena wing of party.

Chirag Paswan

Son of Paswan’s second wife Reena Paswan, Chirag made his Bollywood debut opposite Kangana Ranaut in the Miley Naa Miley Hum in 2011. But its resounding failure at the box office hastened his entry into politics. Paswan had anointed him his heir-apparent in his lifetime.

Prince Raj

Son of the late Ram Chandra Paswan; won by-election to Samastipur Lok Sabha seat after it fell vacant due to the demise of his father. Made state LJP president by Chirag, but he chose to join the recent rebellion led by his uncle Paras.

Usha Devi

Paswan’s daughter from his first wife Raj Kumari Devi, her husband Mrinal Paswan has contested assembly polls on the LJP ticket a few times, but could never win.

Asha Devi

Paswan’s youngest daughter from his first wife; turned rebel against her father in his life-time after her husband Anil Kumar Sadhu, state president of Dalit Sena, was ­denied the party ticket in the 2015 assembly elections.