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‘BJP’s silence hurts me; have faith in PM’: Chirag Paswan
"And their (BJP’s) silence hurts me. I still have faith in my Prime Minister. I did expect that he will intervene and mediate and try to solve the problem," LJP leader Chirag Paswan said.
President of the Lok Janshakti Party and Lok Sabha MP from Jamui in Bihar, Chirag Paswan is caught in a family feud with his uncle Pashupati Paras and cousin Prince Raj over the control of the party. A former NDA ally, his relations with the Bharatiya Janata Party also came under a cloud after he attacked the other ally, the Janata Dal United and Bihar chief Minister Nitish Kumar. In an interview to HT he said he feels hurt by the BJP not supporting him and will look for alternatives if pushed to do so. Edited excerpts:
Were you blindsided by what you uncle and cousin did?
Yes, while I was fighting with outsiders, I did not know that I will have to fight insiders as well. And there was no way for me to know this was building up because on September 27, 2020, just 11 days before my father’s death Paras wrote a letter that there are reports of some party members taking part in antiparty activities and his name has also been dragged into this, which he thinks is a conspiracy by the opposition. He extended support to the party president.
What do you think is responsible for this rift?
This is a betrayal. This is a betrayal of not just me but the party as well. Throughout his life my father took his brothers along, but I have been left alone by them. I will have no one by my side when I observe the first anniversary of my father’s death. I know that people from the JDU are involved in this but it’s my own people who have betrayed me.
How did you feel when Paras refused to meet you?
I was very sad. I was most upset when I saw how sad this made my mother. I saw her sitting and crying alone. She spent all her life keeping the family together and they used to treat her well, but after my father‘s death they did not speak to us, nor do they visit. And when my mother found out about what was happening, she called up everyone from the driver to the office staff attempting to speak to them (uncle and cousin). I was put on an antibiotic drip, but when I saw her, alone and shattered, that is when I lost it all. Soon after my father’s death, they stopped talking to us, only my cousin used to talk.
What do you say to the allegations that you were running the party in a very autocratic manner.
Had I been autocratic why would 95% of the party members stand by me. I don’t know what was offered—money or power—to these people who are speaking against me.
In hindsight do you think breaking away from the NDA and attacking Nitish Kumar was unwise?
Not at all. Rather if I were to redo it, I would have done it exactly the way I’ve done it. And why shouldn’t I. My father’s and my politics, our party’s policies have been against Nitish Kumar. Ever since my father formed the party in 2000, our fight has been against Kumar. Whether it was the 2005 (state) elections or the 2009 general elections we always contested against the JDU. Even the 2015 (state) election we contested as opponents. The only exception was the 2019 general election, when Kumar overnight became a part of the NDA alliance, and we were helpless since we had to contest elections together. Even then my father was uncomfortable about the idea of working together with Kumar. Because throughout Kumar has tried to pull him down, destroy his party and finish him politically. And this is not the first time he has tried to break our party.
In 2005, he tried to break away our MLAs and district presidents. Then again, he tried to poach our MLCs. Even now we had one elected legislator (from Maithani), they took him too. And now he has tried to break my party as well as my family. The whole concept of Dalit and Mahadalit was created to finish my father‘s politics.
In 2014 our alliance was with Bharatiya Janata Party not the JDU. And that time Kumar had snapped ties with the BJP and raised questions on Narendra Modi’s claim to premiership. On many issues the Nitish Kumar government did not support the Modi government, whereas we have been steadfastly standing with the BJP and supporting them even on issue such as the Citizenship Amendment Act CAA and the (proposed) national population register (NRC). Now if the home ministry wants to implement NRC in Bihar what will they do, because the Bihar assembly has passed a resolution against it.
Do you feel the BJP did not address your concerns.
I told them very categorically right before the assembly elections began (about my concerns)….I had a meeting at the residence of BJP president JP Nadda, where the BJP organisational general secretary BL Santhosh and home minister Amit Shah were also present that there are two points that I cannot negotiate on. One was the number of seats that they were offering me; they were giving us only 15 whereas we wanted at least six seats per MP. The second issue was that I did not believe that Nitish Kumar had any policy that could bring about development in Bihar. I do not agree with his Saat Nishchay scheme. I said we should have a common minimum programme because that is how coalition governments work. He overlooked the vision document that my father had drafted when he was hospitalised. I even told the BJP president that they should not work on his agenda.
I don’t know if BJP understood my concerns or not but I was very clear. And my father’s last words to me were no matter what do not align with Nitish; contest alone otherwise he will try to finish you as he tried to do with me. And the support that I got from people in Bihar is the reason why I contested elections alone.
Do you feel the BJP has left you on your own?
I am hurt. My father and I stood by the BJP when nobody was there with them. And today when I need them, I expect their support. I still have faith in the Prime Minister. He is the only reason why we joined the NDA, especially me. I forced my father to join the NDA because of him. But if I am pushed and cornered then I am left with no option but to look out for alternatives.
So is the Mahagathbandhan the other alternative?
That is for my party to decide. If we are pushed away, then my party and I will sit together and decide on the next step.
Have they reached out to you?
That is a general practice. When such things happen then the opposition tends to reach out. I have a lot of friends in the opposition too. My father was a very friendly person he was liked by people across party lines. Same goes with me. We are in touch but on a personal level nothing official. But then yes, pushed beyond a point we will have to think about the future course.
Has anybody in the BJP tried to reach out to you?
Not yet. And their (BJP's) silence hurts me. Like I said, I still have faith in my PM. I did expect that he will intervene and mediate and try to solve the problem. Everyone from the opposition has reached out to me. I do have friends in the BJP, on the personal level I have spoken to several people and even ministers. But officially, my expectations were not met. My father stood with the PM till his last breath. I have stood by him in every decision. When you needed me, I was with you, today when I need you, if you don’t support me and keep cornering me then I will have to look for alternatives.
You are talking about the party taking a decision but right now the party is in trouble. There are two groups fighting for control. How will you scotch the differences?
I don’t know how I’m going to do that, but I am very proud that my party has stood by me. A party is not only about MPs and MLAs; they all come and go. And this is not happening just to my party it has happened to parties across the world. This is the reason why we have rules and regulations because elected members come and go or change affiliation. Today, we have six members in Lok Sabha, and these were not there in 2014.These people cannot discuss the future of the party, that is based on the organisational structure and the soul of the party is the Constitution. I’m happy the whole organisational set up strongly stands with me. We have a minimum of 75 national executive members of which 66 are with me and have given sworn affidavits. Of all the state presidents only the ones from Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi and not with me, the rest support to me.
Have you approached the election commission with these supporting affidavits to stake claim to the party symbol?
Yes, we have. We told them we have terminated these people from the party and if anyone stakes claim they should inform us. They (Paras and others) told the EC, that a new president was appointed because after the passing away of Ram Vilas Paswan, the LJP did not have an election. What they are forgetting is that the election was conducted in 2019 when my father resigned as president on health grounds and because he had ministerial responsibility. And as per our constitution, the president has a term of 5 years, unless he passes away or resigns. I was elected president on November 5, 2019, and four days later the EC was informed. Incidentally, the main proposer for my election was Pashupati Paras and Suraj Bhan Singh seconded it.
I have told the Lok Sangh speaker Om Birla the same thing. MPs cannot decide the leader of the party, it is the call of the party leadership. He is yet to get back to me.
I am ready for a long fight. I am ready to go to court.
