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Chirag’s heart warms up with PM Modi’s message on Paswan’s death anniversary
Chirag has been isolated within the NDA after his uncle split the party faulting his election strategy to attack NDA constituent JD-U, which led to LJP winning just one seat and spoiling JD-U’s chances of victory on multiple seats due to suspected division of votes
Prime Minister Narendra Modi late Saturday evening spoke to Member Of Parliament (MP) from Jamui and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Chirag Paswan on his father and former Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan’s first death anniversary. The PM also sent him a long message expressing his respect for senior Paswan’s contributions to politics and it came at a time when Chirag was locked in an internal feud with his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras for Ram Vilas Paswan’s legacy by retaining control of the party he had founded.
Describing late Ram Vilas Paswan as a “great son of the nation, Bihar’s pride and a strong voice for social justice”, PM said Paswan’s life can teach a lot to young aspiring politicians.
“For the youth who want to go into politics or serve the nation through politics, Ram Vilas Paswan’s life can teach them a lot. Despite reaching the top of politics, he always remained connected with his workers. He always relied on communication and cordiality and that was the reason he maintained good relations with all leaders, irrespective of political parties, and maintained a ubiquitous smile on his face. He was a man of the masses,” Modi’s message said.
Chirag posted the letter on his Twitter handle and wrote that it gave him and his family strength. “You have epitomised my father’s entire life in your words to honour his contributions to the society and demonstrated your love for him. May the affection and blessings always remain like this,” he wrote.
The exchange is significant because of speculations that Chirag’s faction of the LJP could consider joining hands with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) ahead of the by polls for two seats in Bihar, both of which were earlier with the JD-U, the ruling party Chirag aimed to oust from power in 2020 assembly elections but failed. Chirag has been isolated within the NDA after his uncle split the party faulting his election strategy to attack NDA constituent JD-U, which led to LJP winning just one seat and spoiling JD-U’s chances of victory on multiple seats due to suspected division of votes. Ally Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) alleged role in Chirag’s sidelining in the LJP had also led to perception of tensions between the two. However, the PM’s message seemed to have warmed up Chirag’s heart.
“He will always have his own place in the history of independent India and how he reached the pinnacle from a modest background and remained firmly attached to his roots. Whenever he met me, he always talked about his experience about the welfare of deprived sections. He stepped into politics in the 1960s, when the political scenario in the country was completely different and there was predominately just one ideology in the country. Yet, he chose a different path for him and surprised everyone by winning the Lok Sabha election in 1977,” the PM said, describing Paswan’s first death anniversary as an emotional day for him since he not only remembered him as a close friend but also felt the void he had left in Indian politics.
The PM wrote that Paswan always tried to give positive direction to whatever responsibilities he shouldered as Union minister of railways, telecom, chemical and fertilisers and other departments in his long political life. “In the six years as a minister in the NDA government, he took many effective steps in the field of consumer rights and public distribution system,” PM added.
On Saturday evening, former Bihar deputy chief minister and Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi also demanded that a statue of Ram Vilas Paswan should be installed in Patna in view of his enormous contributions to Bihar’s development and national politics. “There should be a state function on his birth anniversary. He always struggled for the cause of Dalits,” Modi said.
