Manoj Chaurasia : Will Paswan, won’t Paswan?

Courtsey : The Statesman

LJP chief Mr Ram Vilas Paswan is a man who loves to flaunt his trump card. In all his election rallies, he has been telling people how they hold the key to next government at the Centre and without his support no government can be formed. What he means by “they” is the trio of SP chief Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, RJD chief Mr Lalu Prasad and he himself, joining hands together to form an unnamed front. The question making the rounds now is if Mr Paswan will be able to secure his own victory in his home constituency of Hajipur which has elected him seven times in a row so far. Hajipur is among the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies of north Bihar which goes to polls tomorrow in the second phase. The poll will decide if Mr Paswan’s brand of Dalit politics is acceptable to the masses or not. The Dalit leader has been switching sides as per his convenience and has been able to find a Cabinet berth in almost every Union governments formed since the National Front government headed by Mr VP Singh, the architect of Mandal politics which changed the entire spectrum of Indian politics. Whether it was the United Front coalition government headed by Mr HD Deve Gowda and Mr IK Gujaral, the NDA coalition headed by Mr AB Vajpayee or the UPA coalition headed by Mr Manmohan Singh, the LJP chief always found a way in. This time, however, he faces a very tough time in Hajipur with voters strongly objecting to his habit of seeking out strange bedfellows and “cheating” the voters. “Most of the time he abuses Mr Lalu Prasad but during elections, he joins hands with his enemy. What kind of politics is this? Does he take us for fools?” is the common poser of the voters in his constituency. This time as well, despite all parties lining up for his support, Mr Paswan chose to join hands with his arch rival, RJD chief Mr Prasad, burying the hatchet. However, his rivals say he has miscalculated his moves this time and may well lose the key to an assured victory.