Chirag Paswan, whose party has pulled off a stunner by winning all five Lok Sabha seats it contested, told NDTV today that he is in favour of a review of the Agnipath scheme and a nationwide caste census. Mr Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) is the second NDA ally after JDU to push for the Agnipath review and caste census.
Speaking to NDTV in an exclusive interview, the 41-year-old said the credit for his party’s success goes to the people of Bihar. “I have gone through a bad phase for the longest period of my life, but the one thing that kept me going is that I was with the people of my state. I had that belief in myself. I had the blessings of my father,” he said.
With his party’s Lok Sabha performance, Chirag Paswan has stepped out of the shadow of his father, late Ram Vilas Paswan, a stalwart in Indian politics. His death in 2020 was the beginning of a challenging phase for the junior Paswan. His uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras claimed Ram Vilas Paswan’s legacy, and Chirag lost the party’s name and symbol. But ahead of the Lok Sabha election, the BJP realised that it was the young leader they must bet on for the crucial Paswan votes in Bihar. And results show that the bet has paid off.
Mr Paswan said that he has big shoes to fill because he has been elected from Bihar’s Hajipur seat, which Ram Vilas Paswan won a record eight times. “The kind of work he has done there, to match up to that would be a task, but I am ready for that. This is what I always wanted, to fulfill my father’s dream, to carry his work forward was something I always wished for,” he said.
“The last couple of years were very difficult. I lost my father, my party, my symbol. We were contesting this election on a new party name, a new symbol. To get people used to the new symbol was a difficult task. But God has been very kind and the people of my state, their belief in me was overwhelming,” he said.
