At a time when the state of Bihar is bracing for Assembly polls that are scheduled towards the end of this year, there is a palpable sentiment that the BJP led NDA should look beyond the present Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar insofar the state of Bihar is concerned.
Even as the BJP led NDA would fancy a more vibrant leader than the JDU supremo who has already been the Chief Minister of the state since 2005, except a small intervening period when Jitan Ram Manjhi became the Bihar Chief Minister of the state.
In such a state of affairs, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) President, Chirag Paswan seems like one possible option that could augur well for the coalition in the state.
The two time Lok Sabha MP, Chirag Paswan has come into spotlight after a brilliant speech on the floor of house about the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
He allayed all concerns about the CAA and countered the false alarm against the Amendment legislation strongly and eloquently.
Even on the issue of National Population Register (NPR) and the National Register of Citizens (NRC), he made it clear that the opposition is unnecessarily abetting violence in the country even though the Union Home Minister has clarified that NPR is not going to prejudice anyone.
Even on the issue of NRC, he attacked the opposition parties over how concerns are being raised even though the NRC exercise has not even been announced, and how the country is being misled on the basis of conjectures and surmises.
Paswan’s comments allaying concerns about the CAA, NPR and NRC come at a time when BJP’s coalition partner in Bihar, the Nitish Kumar led JDU has been involved in a tussle with the party over the updating of the National Population Register (NPR).
While the JDU has not unambiguously supported the BJP, the LJP has stood by its coalition partner throughout the debate. There was a time when LJP patriarch was not seen as belonging to a particular coalition. In fact, he has almost always stayed in power, irrespective of which coalition or party came at the helm of affairs. He has served in the cabinets of six different Prime Ministers- VP Singh, Devegowda, IK Gujral, Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh and the present Prime Minister, Modi, throughout his career.
However, things seem to have changed with Chirag Paswan handling party affairs. The party aligned with the BJP before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, a move that has paid rich dividends for the party. Had the LJP been contesting against the BJP in 2014, it would have probably been washed away by the Modi wave that had taken grip of the state in 2014 General Elections.
However, after joining the NDA coalition, the LJP has not just survived but has also thrived in the coalition. Ram Vilas Paswan got a ministerial berth in PM Modi’s cabinet and the party also benefitted while contesting under the leadership of PM Modi during the Lok Sabha polls last year.
It was also after a meeting presided by the late BJP leader, Arun Jaitley and Chirag Paswan that the LJP had decided to stay with the NDA coalition in the run up to the 2019 General Elections.
The LJP has a secular image, despite which the party has strongly stood with the BJP over the CAA. Ram Vilas Paswan has repeatedly dispelled false concerns against the CAA. Every marginal coalition partner harbours apprehensions about being overshadowed completely by its coalition partners, especially when an ally like the BJP has tremendous pan-India presence.
But the LJP has never gone out of its way. Unlike the former ally Shiv Sena and the present ally in Punjab Akali Dal, LJP has never spilled the beans in public. Whatever issues might have cropped out between the BJP and the LJP, the latter has made it a point to resolve them internally with its coalition partner.
Apart from the comfortable equations shared by the BJP and the LJP, Chirag Paswan also seems like a fitting Chief Ministerial candidate because of his articulate, well groomed personality. Chirag Paswan is a highly educated Dalit, something that can augur really well when it comes to the NDA’s social engineering in the state of Bihar.
In an era of failing dynasts, the Jamui MP has taken on the reins of the party rather adroitly, showing that he is not a spoiled brat but actually capable of leading from the front. Chirag Paswan has shown that he doesn’t weaponise his caste identity for political growth, rather he speaks in the favour of nationalism.
Chirag Paswan has a dynamic personality, a rarity with the other dynasts in the country like Uddhav Thackeray or Rahul Gandhi. Chirag Paswan seems like an able leader and projecting him as the CM candidate can be a big move forward in the right direction when it comes to the upliftment of one of the most backward states in India, that is, Bihar.