Chirag Paswan: The heir in a tearing hurry

A new slogan coined by Chirag Paswan for the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls captures the mind of the 38-year-old who is set to inherit his father, Ram Vilas Paswan’s, political legacy.

"Modi tujh se bair nahi, Nitish teri khair nahi" (No enmity with Narendra Modi, but won’t spare Nitish Kumar), the slogan goes, revealing the junior Paswan’s impatience to be seen as a leader in his own right in Bihar. With this move, he has brought his animosity with the JD(U) strongman to the fore and at the same time made the alliance with the BJP and Modi clear.

This is a strange situation for the NDA. Both parties, the LJP and the JD(U), are members of the NDA but are at daggers drawn. However, this bitterness is not unprecedented.

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During the February 2005 Bihar Assembly poll, the then party chief Ram Vilas Paswan decided to field LJP candidates against all the 178 RJD nominees, although he and Lalu were Cabinet colleagues in UPA-I, while Rabri Devi was then the Bihar chief minister. Paswan’s logic was that since there was strong anti-incumbency against the Rabri government, he was fielding his nominees against the RJD candidates. Off the record, it was more of an ego problem, as Paswan had lost the Railway Ministry to Lalu during the Cabinet formation in 2004.

The move to field LJP nominees against RJD candidates paid off as the LJP won 29 seats in March 2005, its best-ever performance since its inception.

Fifteen years down the line, Ram Vilas’ son Chirag too is toeing his father’s line by putting up candidates against all JD(U) nominees. Chirag’s logic is also similar to his father’s — that there is strong anti-incumbency against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Also read: LJP's Chirag Paswan may fight Bihar Assembly Elections independently

While senior Paswan’s gamble paid off, the same cannot be predictably said about Chirag’s posturing for two reasons: First, Nitish is no Rabri Devi. And second, Chirag is no Ram Vilas Paswan (who, in a lighter vein, is also called ‘Mausam Vaigyanik’, a weather scientist who can predict which way the poll wind is blowing).

If Chirag is nursing grudges against Nitish, it’s more because the young LJP chief is ambitious to don the CM’s mantle. But in the process, he has failed to realise that he has neither the mass base nor the number of seats to even stake such a claim. In 2015, the LJP contested 42 seats in alliance with the BJP but could scrape through in merely two seats. Earlier, in the 2010 Assembly polls, the LJP won only three seats.

A former aide of his said he was not endowed with great talents. He had completed his Class 10 and 12 through the National Institute of Open Schooling system and then discontinued a BTech degree in computer sciences from Bundelkhand University. “However, he was always over-ambitious,” he said.

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Considered to be a young leader with good looks, Chirag originally wanted to become a Bollywood actor before his entry into politics as an LJP MP from the naxal-infested Jamui in 2014. His father attempted to get these dreams off the ground. The film, ‘Miley Na Miley Hum’, with Kangana Ranaut as the lead actor, was released in 2011. Though the movie had many popular elements, it could not make a mark at the box office.

Chirag changed track soon. However, since he has replaced his father as the LJP chief in November 2019, he has made more enemies than friends within the NDA and outside. The Paswan heir, in a tearing hurry, may have bitten off more than he can chew once again.