LJP’s warring factions stake claim to Paswan’s legacy on his birth anniversary

PATNA After their split, the two factions of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) led by Chirag Paswan and his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras separately observed the birth anniversary of party founder Ram Vilas Paswan, who died just before the Bihar assembly elections last year

PATNA After their split, the two factions of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) led by Chirag Paswan and his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras separately observed the birth anniversary of party founder Ram Vilas Paswan, who died just before the Bihar assembly elections last year.

HT Image

While the Paras group organised a function at the LJP office in Patna, which he has occupied since he proclaimed himself as the party president, Chirag chose to start with a function in Delhi and then fly to Patna to travel further to Hajipur, the constituency represented by Ram Vikas Paswan eight times since 1977 and now by Paras. Both factions also engaged in a poster war on the streets of Patna.

For Chirag, it was his first visit to Bihar post-split, and he played the emotional card to remind people how “his own people ditched him less than a year after his father’s death and how his father, too, had to face attempts to pull him back during his days of struggle”. He was given a rousing reception at the airport, with a large crowd with bands, banners, horses, etc joining his cavalcade as he went to garland a statue of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar in Patna but was not allowed to do so by the local administration.

“It is strange. Babasaheb is the framer of the Constitution. Why should anyone be stopped from paying respect to the leader? They can stop us from going to the statue, but they cannot stop us from cherishing his ideals,” Chirag said, shouting slogans such as “Babasaheb amar rahe, Ramvilas Paswan amar rahe” with his supporters.

Later, Chirag’s supporters sat on a dharna there for some time in protest before heading to Sultanpur village in Hajipur to launch an Ashirvad Yatra to connect with people across the state. Chirag skipped going to the LJP office adjacent to the airport, where the rival faction was holding the fort.

“People from across the state came to the office to pay their tributes to the LJP founder,” Paras said, adding that instead of Ashirvad Yatra, Chirag should have taken out a Shradhanjali Yatra.

At Hajipur, where a large number of his supporters gathered, Chirag reiterated his resolve to take forward the ideals of his father.

Earlier in the day, the RJD, which extended its support to Chirag during the factional war in the LJP, paid tributes to Ram Vilas Paswan. RJD chief Lalu Prasad mentioned Ram Vilas Paswan’s relationship with him in the course of his virtual address to underline the importance of the departed leader’s legacy in the Dalit politics of the state.