LJP(RV) seeks quota in private sector jobs
Patna: Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) on Friday called for the introduction of reservation in private sector employment and the installation of a statue of the late
Ram Vilas Paswan
at the Constitution House.
The demands were made following a meeting of the party's state working committee, chaired by state president Raju Tiwari.
The meeting was also attended by Jamui MP Arun Bharti. Among other resolutions, the committee called for renaming
Gaya International Airport
as Lord Buddha International Airport and posthumously awarding the Bharat Ratna to the party's founder, the late Ram Vilas Paswan. Paswan was conferred the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honour, in 2021.
The party further demanded stronger protection of the socio-economic rights of the poor and backward classes.
Addressing the reporters, Bharti said, "The resolutions passed in the meeting not only clarify the party's political direction but also demonstrate our commitment to
social justice
, national interest, Bahujan leadership and honouring the legacy of the Lok Janshakti Party's founder, the late Paswan."
Bharti also criticised Congress MP Rahul Gandhi over his visit to a dalit hostel in Darbhanga. "While Rahul pretends to be a well-wisher of the dalits, he refused to visit Makhdumpur near Jehanabad, where incidents of dalit oppression were reported," he said.
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Time of India
7 hours ago
- Time of India
Chirag Paswan makes it official, throws his hat in Bihar Assembly Poll ring
New Delhi: Union minister and LJP (RV) leader Chirag Paswan announced at a ' Nav Sankalp Rally ' in Arrah, Bihar, on Sunday that he will contest the upcoming assembly elections, heeding to his party leaders' demand and putting to rest speculations on this which have been going on for some time. "A question is being asked whether Chirag Paswan will contest assembly elections from Bihar. My answer is yes! I will contest from every seat in Bihar to make Bihar first and Biharis first . The biggest thing is that I will contest elections for Bihar and will contest elections for Biharis," he said amid loud cheers from people present at the rally. Sources told ET that Paswan had taken a decision on this much earlier and wanted to announce it at a public event. He has been maintaining that the NDA will contest the upcoming assembly elections under the leadership of Nitish Kumar and that Kumar would be made the chief minister. But now, he has positioned himself quite differently. Clearly, Paswan is eyeing a major role post-elections. A few days ago, his party leader announced that if Paswan decided to contest elections, he would contest from a general seat rather than an SC seat to show that he is a state leader acceptable to all. Recently, he has been quite vocal over issues concerning Bihar. On Wednesday, Paswan expressed regret over the death of a minor rape victim from Muzaffarpur and in his letter to Kumar, he called it an abject failure of the state's law and order system. Live Events A BJP leader told ET that anyone, including Paswan, can contest from the seats allotted to his party after seat sharing. "Paswan has said that he is working under the leadership of Nitish Kumar and is committed to making him the CM. Kumar and we are contesting 243 seats with the same goal," JDU spokesman Rajeev Ranjan told ET.
India Gazette
8 hours ago
- India Gazette
"My goal is that NDA moves towards victory...": Chirag Paswan announces to contest upcoming Bihar Assembly polls
Arrah (Bihar) [India], June 8 (ANI): Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president Chirag Paswan announced on Sunday that he will contest the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls. Speaking at a public gathering in Arrah, Paswan declared that his party would support the NDA in all 243 assembly seats to ensure its victory. 'For those who ask from where I will contest, I want to tell you that my party, Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), and I will contest on 243 seats to make NDA candidates win and strengthen the NDA alliance. My goal is that the NDA moves towards victory,' said Chirag. The announcement was made in Arrah, a traditionally weak region for JD(U). Chirag Paswan said he would not contest the election 'from Bihar but for Bihar.' He added that he would leave the decision of his candidacy and constituency to the people. 'I leave this decision to you (people). You decide whether I should contest the Bihar assembly elections, and from which seat. I will follow your decision,' he added. In a scathing attack on the opposition, Paswan accused both the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress of being responsible for the state's infamous 'jungle raj' era. 'It's not just RJD, Congress is equally responsible for that phase of lawlessness,' he said, while also crediting the current NDA government for awarding the Bharat Ratna to former Bihar CM Karpoori Thakur. Paswan further invoked his father's legacy, the late Ram Vilas Paswan, to criticised Congress for neglecting Dalit icon Dr BR Ambedkar. 'Those who are doing politics in the name of Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar today should not forget history. When there was a Congress government at the center, not even a single statue of Baba Saheb was installed in the Parliament. For the first time, Baba Saheb's statue was installed in the Parliament when my father, revered Ram Vilas Paswan ji, was the Labor Minister in VP Singh ji's government,' he said 'Three pictures of a family were installed in the Parliament, but not of Baba Saheb. Those who talk about Baba Saheb's thoughts should also remember this,' he added further. Paswan's recent announcement has ignited a debate about seat-sharing within the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar. Paswan's demand for 40 seats, citing his party's 100% strike rate in the last Lok Sabha polls, has raised eyebrows among NDA allies. Chirag Paswan's party is demanding 40 seats, while other allies like Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and Rashtriya Lok Morcha (RLM) are also seeking a handful of seats, while the BJP and JD (U) are reportedly eyeing 100 seats each. Chirag's aggressive posturing comes against the backdrop of the 2020 polls, where his party secured an almost 5.66% vote share. This brought down the JD(U)'s tally from 71 in 2015 to 43, relegating it to third place behind the RJD and BJP. Earlier in April, a poster reading '25 se 30, Nitish again' was placed outside Patna's JD (U) office. Meanwhile, in Khagaria, Jan Suraaj Party founder Prashant Kishor hit back at traditional party leaders, including Paswan, who were questioning their development agenda. 'We are contesting on 243 public has nothing to do with which party is contesting on how many seats. Chirag Paswan and other leaders have to tell how children will be educated in Bihar, how migration from Bihar will stop and how corruption will stop in Bihar?. The public has seen the NDA and UPA ...' Bihar is expected to have its assembly elections later in the year. However, the Election Commission has not announced the dates as of yet. (ANI)
The Hindu
9 hours ago
- The Hindu
From Parliament to Patna
The crowd lustily waves red-blue-green flags carrying Ram Vilas Paswan's photograph alongside the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas)'s [LJP (RV)] helicopter symbol at the 'Nav-Sankalp' (new resolution) rally at Shahbad in south-west Bihar. On the stage heaving with party functionaries, one of the men places a magenta turban on Chirag Paswan's head. Chirag, whose name translates to lamp, is a Union Cabinet Minister and the party's president. A thick vermillion tika bisects his forehead. He is handed a naked sword, which he raises to the crowd that roars in approval. The crowd — mostly men in their youth — has been waiting for hours under a white canopy, which barely keeps the sun out. They want to hear him speak. This is his first public address after he announced his intent to contest the Bihar Assembly election. So far, his sound bytes to the media have been framed in 'ifs' and 'buts'. No one knows which seat he will contest from. The restive crowd is waiting for clarity. He paces through various themes, attacking the Congress for alleged 'years of neglect', hailing the NDA government in Bihar led by the Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar, and recalling the split in the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) after his father's death. In 2021, his uncle, Pashupati Paras, walked away with five out of six Parliamentarians. Somewhere at the halfway mark, his face glistening with sweat, he finally comes to what the crowd has been waiting for. 'Haan main Bihar se chunav ladunga…. Bihar ke liye ladunga,' (Yes, I will contest from Bihar; in fact, I will fight for Bihar.) There are no more details. 'It is for you to decide: should Chirag Paswan contest the Assembly election and from which seat? Chirag Paswan will do what you tell him to,' he says, referring to himself in third person, the way politicians often do. Then, 'Let me assure you: whatever I do, it will be for Bihar.' Chirag currently holds the Hajipur Parliamentary seat that his father, Ram Vilas Paswan, won eight times. Ram Vilas had been in politics for five decades until his death in 2020. The LJP was formed in November 2000 by Ram Vilas as a Dalit-centric party. Chirag has been an active politician — after what he himself calls his 'failed stint' in Bollywood — since 2013. In the past, he was elected from the Jamui constituency. The Bihar election will take place later this year, for 243 Assembly seats. At 43, Chirag has committed to moving from national to Bihar politics. This is unlike his father, Dalit leader Ram Vilas, who went from one Cabinet to another, headed by Prime Ministers of different persuasions, remaining firmly in Delhi. Chirag has chosen Bihar as his battleground. Over the past month the LJP (RV) has plastered posters across Bihar, of Chirag wearing a silver crown, like the shiny plasticky versions used by local theatre groups for period dramas. 'Bihar Kar Raha Hai Tajposhi Ka Intezaar' (Bihar is waiting to crown him) a poster declares, indicating his Chief Ministerial ambitions. Rocky relationships This is the first Assembly election in Bihar where the LJP (RV) will be contesting alongside Nitish Kumar and campaigning for votes on his behalf. Opposing them are the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress, and the CPI (ML). 'Our voters may not switch to the other side (RJD-led coalition) but what if they simply do not step out to vote? We have to bring them to the polling booth,' a close aide of Chirag says. Chirag's and Kumar's relationship has always been rocky. Only five years ago, Chirag ran the Assembly election under the slogan, 'Modi se bair nahi, Nitish teri khair nahi' (There's no enmity with Modi, but we won't spare Nitish). This was despite the LJP being in the NDA together with Kumar's JD(U). Chirag's ailing father was still a Union Minister. Ahead of the election Chirag ran a campaign discrediting Kumar's administration, highlighting the gaps in delivery of welfare schemes, and training the spotlight over Bihar's backwardness. It dealt a sharp blow to JD(U) and Nitish Kumar's brand, with the party being reduced to 43 seats, a distant third behind the RJD and BJP. In 2000, Ram Vilas was against Kumar as Chief Minister, batting for a BJP CM and arguing that they were the rightful claimants with the highest tally of seats among the allies. But the BJP ignored him to anoint Kumar, who could stay in the seat for just seven days. That was the last time Kumar and Chirag fought the election on the same side. It was also the year of the launch of the LJP. In 2007, two years into his first full term as Chief Minister, Kumar carved out a Maha Dalit group to provide special government assistance to those marginalised within the Scheduled Caste (SC) groups. Out of the 22 sub-castes of SCs, 21 were categorised as Maha Dalit. The only sub-caste excluded was the Dusadh or Paswan. It was only in 2018 that this exclusion ended, bringing the Paswans too into the fold. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the undivided LJP, the BJP, and the JD(U), in a seat-sharing arrangement, decided to give one Rajya Sabha seat to Ram Vilas. But a few months later, just before nominations were to be filed, the father and son were sent by senior BJP functionaries to Kumar's house. There, Chirag says, he made them wait for a couple of hours and forced them to plead for the seat. At the epicentre The Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency that Ram Vilas represented is close to Patna. Hajipur town is just 40 km from the State Capital in Vaishali district. This is the epicentre of Chirag's politics. His face is everywhere: waving from walls, bowing from billboards, smiling from the backs of autorickshaws. The density of these posters is expected to rise as the election nears. Paswan Tola, a village in Hajipur dominated by the Paswans, is caught in a transition. A few brick-and-mortar houses sit awkwardly between straw-and-clay structures here. It is mid-morning, and Vinod Paswan, a rickshaw puller in his mid-40s, is eating watery dal with rice and mango pickle. This meal must serve him till he returns home in the evening. Dressed in a ganji and lungi, he rinses his steel plate and sits down in his kuchha house. 'Chirag is our king. Can one fight a battle without the king?' he says. Without him in the fray, there isn't much to look forward to in the election,' he claims. Dharamdeo Paswan, in his early 60s, lives close to Vinod's house. He says, 'I always wanted to see his father as the Prime Minister or the Chief Minister of Bihar.' He recounts the times he had seen the senior Paswan campaigning in the area. For him and many others, the switch from father to son is organic. Unlike Vinod, he is not bothered whether Chirag contests or not. 'Bihar main vote aur beti aapne jaat main dete hai,' (In Bihar, casting your vote and marrying your daughter are both decided by caste). New vs old For many, Chirag represents a new phase of Bihar's politics. 'I am very happy that Chirag Paswan is planning to contest the Assembly election. He has been an MP for the last 10 years. It's time for him to work in Bihar. His presence in the election will surely make a difference,' says Ambika Paswan, 65, a resident of Lalganj in Vaishali district. He is a retired government employee, sipping his morning tea and poring over the morning newspaper at the local tea stall. Mangesh Kumar, 27, a committed Paswan voter and resident of Patna who works as a mutual fund investor, likes that Chirag is 'young and energetic', adding that 'he has many years left in politics, whereas Nitishji these days does not look healthy.' Chirag has been incrementally building the stage for his entry into Bihar politics. In April, more than six months away from the poll, he announced to the press in Patna: 'Bihar mujhe bula raha hai,' (Bihar is calling me). He added that he would spend more time there than in Delhi. Then began sound bytes and social media from his party MPs urging him to contest the Bihar Assembly election. His brother-in-law and the party's Jamui MP upped the ante on June 1 with his post on X. The party workers, he said, want Chirag to contest from a general seat to send out the message that he was now ready to lead not just one section (the Dalits), but the whole of Bihar. However, the next day in Raipur, Chirag said to the media: 'There is no vacancy for the CM post in Bihar.' He also said, 'The party is evaluating whether my candidature will benefit it. Because when national leaders contest State elections, that strengthens your position in the election. The BJP has tried this strategy many times by fielding their MPs in the Assembly election and have benefitted.' He added that Kumar would return as the CM. The NDA is going into the poll with Nitish as their Chief Ministerial face, but a leader from Chirag's party says, 'The party is preparing for all eventualities.' With almost 20 years of Kumar's government — he is Bihar's longest serving CM — there is some voter fatigue. Nand Kishor Sharma, 45, is a lohar (blacksmith) both by caste and profession. At Gadai Sarai village, Hajipur, with temperatures rising to 40 degrees Celsius in the afternoon, Nand Kishor sits before the fire working on a shovel. He's also cooking on the side. He speaks between the rhythmic fall of his hammer. Lohars are part of the Extremely Backward Classes, a sub-group of Other Backward Classes, created by Nitish Kumar for better outreach of government-sponsored welfare schemes. 'There should be a change,' Nand Kishor declares. He asserts that Bihar needs 'young and energetic' leaders. 'I do not know who will form the government but that there are several eligible: Chirag Paswan, Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), or Samrat Choudhary (senior BJP leader, Deputy CM).' Ratnesh Kumar, 55, a resident of Muzaffarpur city in central Bihar, who runs a dry-cleaning shop, has a litany of complaints: 'I have not seen any change in the last 10 years except good roads and electricity. Crime has increased, and every day something happens and we have to close our shops. My son has been trying for a (State) government job for the past three year but there are few jobs.' Edited by Sunalini Mathew
