Ram Vilas Paswan’s death casts pall of gloom in Bihar

Patna, Oct 8 : The death of Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) founder Ram Vilas Paswan — one of the tallest political leaders to emerge from Bihar, has cast gloom in his native state. The LJP leader, 74, died at a Delhi hospital on Thursday.
Paswan’s demise — exactly 20 days before Bihar goes to polls, is also expected to impact the election prospects of the LJP, and the overall dynamics as well as outcome of the three-phased polls in the eastern state that kicks off on October 28.
Popular as one of the most prominent Dalit leaders of Bihar, the Union Food and Civil Supplies Minister in the Narendra Modi-led government was widely known for socialist ways.
He rose to prominence during the ‘JP Movement’ — Jaya Prakash Nayaran’s Sampoorna Kranti Movement in 1974, and was jailed when the Emergency was imposed. In 1977, he was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time on a Janata Party ticket from the Hajipur constituency and created a record by winning by over 4 lakh votes. Twelve years later, in 1989, he bettered his own record by winning from the same parliamentary seat by over 5 lakh votes.
“Ram Vilas Paswan was one of the most prominent champions of social justice along with Lalu Prasad. However, his ideology was slightly different from the RJD leader… still, he was quite popular among the people of backward classes,” political observer Saroj Yadav told IANS.
“I believe his demise could give some scope to the LJP in the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar. Especially, Chirag Paswan could get votes due to sympathy,” he said