Patna: Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) president Ram Vilas Paswan on Saturday said his son Chirag Paswan would succeed him as the party leader, triggering a fresh debate about how dynastic politics dominate Indian politics. 71-year-old Paswan is currently a federal minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution in the ruling Narendra Modi government at the centre.
Paswan who has served as a minister in many governments made this announcement while addressing the two-day convention of the party held at Rajgir in Nalanda district.
“After me, Chirag Paswan will head the LJP. Chirag has the capability to lead the party and he has proved this many times in the past,” Paswan told the audience at the party convention which concluded on Saturday. Chirag currently represents Jamui seat from Bihar in the Lok Sabha.
In the last LS polls, Paswan’s six candidates out of total seven had emerged victorious owing to a massive Narendra Modi wave. Of the six LJP parliamentarians, three are members of Paswan family. They include Ram Vilas Paswan, his son Chirag Paswan and younger Ram Chandra Paswan.
Curiously, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which has been very critical of the dynastic politics has been silent over Paswan’s announcement to pass baton to his son.
The silence indeed looks strange given the fact that only recently the BJP hit out at Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi after he argued that India was being run by dynasties.
“Most parties in India have that problem. So … Mr Akhilesh Yadav is a dynast. Mr Stalin (son of M Karunanidhi in the DMK) is a dynast. even Abhishek Bachchan is a dynast. So that’s how India runs. So don’t get after me because that how’s India is run. By the way, I recall the Ambanis are running the business. That’s also going on in Infosys. So that’s what happens in India,” was how Gandhi had explained it while speaking at the University of California, Berkeley last month.
