New Delhi: If 2021 marked Chirag Paswan’s animosity with Nitish Kumar, the bitterness has now been replaced with an acknowledgment of the Bihar chief minister’s “maturity in handling alliance” in an all-important election year.
The focus as allies of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) is to deliver 400-plus seats for handing a third term to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said
The Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader was allotted five parliamentary seats of Hajipur, Vaishali, Jamui, Samastipur and Khagaria. Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar was given 16 seats, one less than the previous election.
“Whatever differences were there, we have to iron them out to make the NDA victorious in the state and so that PM Modi becomes prime minister for the third time. The CM has shown maturity in dealing with the situation. Our cadres have shown same maturity…as student of politics for our alliance and nation’s interest, we will have to fix (issues) and we did it too,” Chirag told ThePrint in an interview.
He also conceded that the road to 2024 was not smooth given that he had a bitter split with his Pashupati Kumar Paras who heads a rival faction of the LJP.
“In politics, people’s trust is the most important thing. ‘Janadhar (support base)’ is most important. The last two-three years were difficult times; I worked without any ambition and our workers worked tirelessly without any hope of getting something in return. Ram Vilas ji used to say that, ‘whenever you face difficult times, go to people’s court and they will show the way’. Six months before, I was not sure of getting tickets, whether I will be part of any alliance or not. I was not sure. Now, I feel proud that our struggle has been recognised and that we have been given respectable space in alliance,” he said.
“I have crossed the phase of life when the word ‘Hanuman’ was used to mock me, saying I did not get anything despite being PM’s ‘Hanuman’. Our struggle without any hope of returns has helped our connection with people. We raised people’s issues at different platforms which helped our respectable return in alliance.”
In the 2020 Bihar election, Chirag had emerged as a vote cutter for Nitish as the JD(U)’s tally was reduced from 71 seats to 43. The JD(U) chief had exacted revenge by engineering a split in the LJP as Paras rebelled against his nephew in June 2021, declaring that five of the six LJP MPs were with him.
Back then, the BJP sided with the Paras faction but before the Lok Sabha election, it sensed that Paswan’s legacy was with Chirag and pressed both factions to merge but both sides refused to blink. The party then tilted towards Chirag, leaving Paras in the cold.
To a question on why Hajipur is important for him and how do people see him there, Chirag said that he had big shoes to fill after his father died in 2020.
“Honestly, my relationship with Hajipur is not that of a politician. Ram Vilas ji’s relationship with Hajipur was like that of a son. I used to go to Hajipur when I was two-three-years-old with ‘mamaji (maternal uncle)’ and father. There is much responsibility on my shoulders, fulfilling my father’s vision in Hajipur is my challenge as he has drawn a big line of development… It’s not an easy job. I want to fulfil his dreams,” he said.
Chirag is contesting from Hajipur where he is fighting against Shiv Chandra Ram of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Ram Vilas Paswan represented the seat nine times before he made way for his brother Pashupati Kumar Paras in 2019.
This year, the LJP (Ram Vilas) has fielded Chirag’s brother-in-law Arun Bharti from Jamui, Sambhvi Choudhary from Samastipur, Rajesh Verma from Khagaria and Veena Devi from Vaishali.
Also Read: ‘He brings nothing to the table, Chirag does’ — why no one wants Pashupati Kumar Paras
‘What did Congress, RJD do?’
On what sense that he is getting from the ground after two rounds of election in Bihar, Chirag said as a “student of politics,” he felt that people had trust only in Modi and his guarantees.
“Let me tell you…there is no excitement among people to vote for the opposition alliance. Why will they vote when there is no leader? What work has the Congress done for 15 years? The RJD, too, was in power; two people (Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi) became chief ministers. What development have they done? People don’t trust the opposition alliance. In the first phase, no big opposition leader came to campaign for the INDIA bloc in Bihar,” he added.
“In 2015, they said that reservation will end and they got success in Bihar. But not every time, the same fear mongering will come to their aid. Our leader became three-time Gujarat CM and is going to be the PM for the third time due to the Constitution. Why will he change it? They want to win the election by fear mongering and spreading rumour. This will not work; this time people are voting for development,” he said to a query on the Opposition’s pitch of ending reservation that has got traction.
As for the controversy over Modi’s statement about wealth redistribution among Muslims, Chirag contended all communities were getting benefits of central schemes. “Secularism is one of the founding pillars of the Constitution, but the problem started when politics of appeasement started…”
“Ujjwala scheme is reaching the doorstep of Muslim women, and so is Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana. What is the Opposition doing in Karnataka? They are giving reservations of OBCs to the Muslims. (In such a scenario) it becomes essential to place facts before people,” he asserted.
Chirag, meanwhile, refused to predict his trajectory and the JD(U)’s in the run up to the next year’s Bihar election.
“I don’t know whether I am an expert or not…my focus is only on our party’s prospects. I don’t know what will be the prospect of JD(U) in 2025. Our CM has a hold over a big population of the state, and his leadership has helped other alliance partners. For us, Bihar comes first and Bihari first is our motto. If we want to make Bihar developed by 2047, our vision should be how to increase its economic prospects, or how investment increases, or how religious tourism and investment can increase. This is our vision for Bihar,” the two-time MP said.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: ‘I have a personal bond with Modi, allied with Nitish to give PM a third term,’ says Chirag Paswan