Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday played the Dalit card after being accused of promoting dynastic politics on the lines of Sonia Gandhi and Mulayam Singh Yadav.
As Paswan highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “vision for development”, Trinamool Congress member Sultan Ahmed took a dig at the LJP chief for initiating his son Chiraq Paswan into politics and getting him elected as Lok Sabha member.
Paswan initially chose to ignore the comments, but when Ahmed raised the issue again, the food minister hit back and contended that similar questions were not asked when Congress president Sonia Gandhi “promoted” her son Rahul Gandhi or against SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
“You are not pained when Mulayam Singh promotes his family. You are not pained when Soniaji bats for Rahulji. It pains you only when a son of a Dalit makes some progress,” Paswan shot back.
Earlier, BJP member Rajiv Pratap Rudy had also said that in Uttar Pradesh, the non-BJP seats were won by members of two political families. Out of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh, BJP and its allies won 73. While Sonia Gandhi won the Rae Bareli seat, her son Rahul won from the neighbouring Amethi.
While the SP chief had won Azamgarh and Mainpuri, his daughter-in-law Dimple Yadav was elected from Kannauj. Mulayam Singh Yadav’s nephews Dharmendra and Akshay were elected from Budaun and Firozabad respectively.
The BJP is not free from dynastic politics. BJP leader Maneka Gandhi is a member from Pilibhit, while her son Varun represents Sultanpur in the Lok Sabha. Paswan has won from Hajipur in Bihar, his son Chirag from Jamui and his brother Ramchandra from Samastipur.
