The post-emergency era, where the anti-Congress and anti-Indira Gandhi sentiment peaked across India, catapulted multiple regional leaders to political glory. From Bihar, apart from Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar, another young politician made it to the Lower House of the Parliament. His name was Ram Vilas Paswan, elected from Hajipur. Over the next five decades, he rose from a local Dalit leader to become a fixture in Union cabinets under six prime ministers.
Paswan held several key portfolios, including railways, telecommunications, food and civil supplies, and consumer affairs, while focusing on development initiatives and marginalised communities. He served in cabinets led by VP Singh, HD Deve Gowda, IK Gujral, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh, and Narendra Modi. Even when out of the Lok Sabha, he returned via the Rajya Sabha.
Early life
Ram Vilas Paswan earned a law degree and qualified for the Bihar civil services exam to become a DSP (Deputy Superintendent of Police). Destiny had other plans; politics, not policing, was going to be his arena.
In 1969, when the Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP) needed candidates for the Bihar polls, the young law graduate stepped in and was elected as an MLA.
Paswan's early political philosophy was forged in the heat of the anti-Congress JP Movement, which mobilised young leaders against Indira Gandhi. Inspired by Jayaprakash Narayan and Raj Narain, he was a fiery voice for Dalits, determined to challenge the status quo. His rise coincided with that of another towering Dalit leader, Jagjivan Ram, whose decades-long Congress career made him a dominant figure nationally.
In 1977, after the Emergency, JP handpicked Paswan to challenge Jagjivan Ram. The plan was for the young Paswan to contest against him in Sasaram. Jagjivan Ram pre-empted this by floating Congress for Democracy and allying with the newly formed Janata Party, leaving Paswan to contest from Hajipur
Making Hajipur his home
Hajipur became his fortress. Paswan won the seat with more than 5 lakh votes, which earned him a spot in the Guinness World Records. During his lifetime, he contested 11 times from Hajipur in the Lok Sabha elections and won nine times.
Unlike Jagjivan Ram, whose influence remained largely confined to his caste base, Paswan had a knack for coalition politics and parliamentary manoeuvring.
The 1990s were transformative for Bihar. The Janata Dal, born of anti-Congress movements, began fragmenting. Lalu Prasad Yadav launched the RJD in 1997, consolidating backward caste votes, while Nitish Kumar's Samata Party, formed in 1994, united other marginalised and Mahadalit communities.
Founded LJP
Ram Vilas Paswan founded the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in 2000 to give Bihar's Dalits, especially the Dusadh community, a clear political voice. In the early 2000s, the party allied with the Congress and the RJD to win four Lok Sabha seats. In 2005, it contested the Bihar Assembly elections with Congress, winning 29 seats, but no coalition could form the government, leading to President's rule.
In the 2014 general elections, the LJP joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP, won six of seven seats allocated to it, and Ram Vilas Paswan became Union Minister for Food and Civil Supplies.
After his death on October 8, 2020, the party split. His son, Chirag Paswan, kept the original LJP (Ram Vilas), and Pashupati Kumar Paras led the breakaway Rashtriya Lok Janshakti Party (RLJP); both remained in the NDA.
For the upcoming 2025 Bihar Assembly elections, Chirag Paswan's LJP is contesting 29 seats as part of the NDA.
Though Ram Vilas Paswan never achieved the pan-Dalit base that Mayawati commanded in Uttar Pradesh, his sense of electoral currents was legendary, author Sobhana K. Nair recounts in her book 'Ram Vilas Paswan: The Weathervane of Indian Politics'.
Ram Vilas Paswan's influence extended beyond electoral victories. During the Mandal Commission era, as Labour Minister in the VP Singh government, he championed the 27 per cent OBC reservation in government jobs.
