Ram

Vilas Paswan
Ram Vilas Paswan (born 5 July 1946) is an Indian politician,
from Bihar and the current Cabinet Minister of Consumer
Ram Vilas Paswan
Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. Paswan is also the
president of the Lok Janshakti Party, eight time Lok Sabha
member and former Rajya Sabha MP.[3] Started his political
career as member of Samyukta Socialist Party and was
elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1969. Next he
joined Lok Dal upon its formation in 1974, and became its
general secretary. He opposed the emergency, and was
arrested during the period. He entered the Lok Sabha in 1977,
as a Janata Party member from Hajipur constituency, was
chosen again 1980, 1989, 1996 and 1998,1999,2004, and
2014

In 2000, he formed the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) as its

president. Subsequently, in 2004 he joined the ruling United Minister of Consumer Affairs,
Progressive Alliance government and remained a Union Food and Public Distribution
Minister in Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and Ministry of Incumbent
Steel. He won the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, but lost the 2009
Assumed office
elections. After being member of a Rajya Sabha member from
26 May 2014
2010 to 2014, he was elected again to the 16th Lok Sabha in
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
the 2014 Indian general election from Hajipur constituency.
Preceded by Sharad Pawar
Member of Lok Sabha

Contents Incumbent
Assumed office
Early life and education
1977
Political career
Constituency Hajipur
Personal life
Minister of Chemicals and
See also Fertilizers[1]
References In office
External links 23 May 2004 – 22 May 2009
Succeeded by M. K. Alagiri
Minister of Mines[1]
Early life and education In office
Paswan was born in a Dalit family in 1946 in Bihar. [4] Paswan 1 September 2001 – 29 April 2002
holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Arts degrees from Preceded by Sunder Lal Patwa
Kosi College, Pilkhi and Patna University.[5]
Minister of Communications and
Information Technology[1]
Political career
 In office
13 October 1999 – 1 September
2001
Prime Minister Atal Bihari
Vajpayee
Preceded by Atal Bihari
Vajpayee
Ram Vilas Paswan in his office after Succeeded by Pramod Mahajan
taking over the charge as the Union
Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers in Minister of Railways[2]
New Delhi on May 24, 2004 In office
1 June 1996 – 19 March 1998
Paswan was elected to the Bihar state legislative assembly in Prime Minister H. D. Deve Gowda
1969 as a member of the Samyukta Socialist Party ("United I. K. Gujral
Socialist Party") from a reserved constituency. In 1974, as an Preceded by C. K. Jaffer Sheriff
ardent follower of Raj Narain and Jayaprakash Narayan Paswan
Succeeded by Nitish Kumar
became the general secretary of the Lok Dal. He was
Member of Rajya sabha
personally close to the prominent leaders of anti-emergency
like Raj Narain, Karpoori Thakur and Satyendra Narayan Sinha. In office
He parted ways with Morarji Desai and joined Janata Party-S July 2010[1] – 2014
led by Lokbandhu Raj Narain as party's president and later as Personal details
its Chairman. In 1975, when emergency was proclaimed in Born 5 July 1946
India, he was arrested and spent the entire period in jail. On Khagaria, Bihar,
being released in 1977, he became a member of the Janata British India
Party[6] and won election to Parliament for the first time on its (now in Bihar,
ticket, and he held the world record for winning election by India)
highest margin. He was re-elected to the 7th Lok Sabha in
Political party Lok Janashakti
1980 and 1984 from Hajipur constituency. In 1983, he
Party
established the Dalit Sena, an organisation for Dalit
emancipation and welfare. Other political Janata Dal ,
affiliations Janata Party
Paswan was re-elected to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989 and was
Spouse(s) Rajkumari Devi
appointed Union Minister of Labour and Welfare in the (m. 1969–1981)
Vishwanath Pratap Singh government. In 1996 he even led the
Reena Sharma
ruling alliance or Proposition in the Lok Sabha as the Prime (m. 1982)
Minister was a member of the Rajya Sabha. This was also the
Children 4; including Chirag
year when he first became the Union Railway Minister. He
Paswan
continued to hold that post till 1998. Thereafter, he was the
Residence Khagaria, Bihar,
U n i o n Communications Minister from October 1999 to
India
September 2001 when he was shifted to the Coal Ministry, the
portfolio he held till April 2002. As of May, 2014
Source: [1] (https://web.archive.org/we
In 2000 Paswan broke from the Janata Dal, to form the Lok b/20060619230245/http://164.100.24.2
Janshakti Party (LJP). Following the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, 08/ls/lsmember/biodata.asp?mpsno=29
Paswan joined the United Progressive Alliance government 6)
and was made the Union Minister in Ministry of Chemicals and
Fertilizers and Ministry of Steel.
In the February 2005 Bihar State elections, Paswan's party LJP along with the Indian National Congress
contested the election. The result was that no particular party or alliance could form a government by
itself. However, Paswan consistently refused to support either Laloo Yadav, whom he accused of being
extremely corrupt, or the right-wing National Democratic Alliance thereby creating a stalemate. This
stalemate was broken when Nitish Kumar succeeded in persuading 12 members of Paswan's party to
defect; to prevent the formation of a government supported by LJP defectors, the Governor of Bihar,
Buta Singh dissolved the state legislature and called for fresh elections, keeping Bihar under
President's Rule. In the November 2005 Bihar state elections, Paswan's third-alliance was utterly
devastated; the Laloo Yadav-Congress alliance reduced to a minority and the NDA formed the new
government.

Paswan has declared that the Bihar state elections have no

influence on the Central Government, which will continue with
both him and Laloo Yadav as ministers. Paswan has served as
a Union Minister under five different Prime Ministers and holds
the distinction of continuously holding on to a cabinet berth in
all the Council of Ministers formed since 1996 (as of 2015). He
also holds the distinction of being part of all the national
coalitions (the United Front, the National Democratic Alliance
Paswan together with Lalu Prasad
and the United Progressive Alliance), which have formed the Yadav (center) and Amar Singh (left)
Indian Government from 1996 to 2015.[7] at a party rally in Mumbai during the
2009 general elections.
For the Indian general election, 2009 Paswan forged an
alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav and his Rashtriya Janata Dal,
while dumping their erstwhile coalition partner and leader of the United Progressive Alliance, the Indian
National Congress from the new alliance. The duo was later joined by Mulayam Singh' s Samajwadi
Party and were declared the Fourth Front. He lost the elections from Hajipur to the Janata Dal's Ram
Sundar Das, a former Chief Minister of Bihar for the first time in 33 years. His party the Lok Janshakti
Party was not able to win any seats in the 15th Lok Sabha, while his coalition partner Yadav and his
party too failed to perform well and were reduced to 4 seats.

He was elected as member of 16th Lok Sabha after the 2014 Indian general election from Hajipur
constituency, while his son Chirag Paswan won from Jamui constituency also in Bihar.[8]

Personal life
Paswan hails from Shaharbanni village in Khagaria district of Bihar. He was born to a scheduled-caste
family. He married Rajkumari Devi in 1960s. In 2014 he disclosed that he had divorced her in 1981,
after his Lok Sabha nomination papers were challenged.[9][10] He has two daughters from first wife,
Usha and Asha.[11] In 1983, he married Reena Sharma, an airhostess and a Punjabi Hindu from
Amritsar.[12][13] They have a son and a daughter. His son Chirag Paswan is an actor-turned-
politician.[10][14]

See also
Dalit
References
1. "Rajya Sabha members" (http://164.100.47.5/newmembers/Website/Main.aspx). National Informatics
Centre, New Delhi and Rajya Sabha. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
2. "List of Minister of Railways of India on Indian Railways Fan Club website" (http://www.irfca.org/docs/railway
-ministers.html). Indian Railways Fan Club. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
3. "Bihar elections: Ram Vilas Paswan remained a facilitator, never the face" (http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/
bihar-elections-ram-vilas-paswan-remained-a-facilitator-never-the-face/1/449322.html).
4. " 'Ram Vilas Dalit face wherever you go, Jitan Ram Manjhi can be Mahadalit face' " (http://indianexpress.com
/article/india/politics/ram-vilas-dalit-face-wherever-you-go-manjhi-can-be-mahadalit-face/).
5. "PIB :: Profiles" (http://pib.nic.in/profile/cabinet/20050601/ramvilaspaswan.asp). pib.nic.in. Retrieved
8 November 2011.
6. "Total Revolution" (http://www.mkgandhi.org/jpnarayan/total_revolution.htm). archive. Retrieved 2 December
2006.
7. "Details of Member : Shri Ram Vilas Paswan" (http://india.gov.in/govt/loksabhampbiodata.php). archive.
Retrieved 12 February 2009.
8. "LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan, son Chirag Paswan win" (http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-ljp-chief-ram-v
ilas-paswan-son-chirag-paswan-win-1989065). Daily News & Analysis. 16 May 2014. Retrieved 18 May
2014.
9. "Ram Vilas Paswan discloses divorce with first wife" (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/Ram-Vilas-Pa
swan-discloses-divorce-with-first-wife/articleshow/34083143.cms).
10. "Ram Vilas Paswan says he divorced first wife Rajkumari Devi in 1981" (http://news.biharprabha.com/2014/
04/ram-vilas-paswan-says-he-divorced-first-wife-rajkumari-devi-in-1981/). IANS. news.biharprabha.com.
Retrieved 23 April 2014.
11. "Will fight against dad in Lok Sabha polls: Ram Vilas daughter" (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pat
na/will-fight-against-dad-in-ls-polls-ram-vilas-daughter/articleshow/65800978.cms).
12. "The Telegraph - Calcutta (Kolkata) - Bihar - Political way to nurture love" (http://www.telegraphindia.com/11
10214/jsp/bihar/story_13578229.jsp).
13. "When Bihar netas were bitten by love bug" (http://www.deccanherald.com/content/137817/when-bihar-netas
-were-bitten.html). Deccan Herald.
14. "Arranged marriage for Chirag Paswan?" (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/hindi/bollywood/n
ews/Arranged-marriage-for-Chirag-Paswan/articleshow/10629658.cms).

External links
Ram Vilas Paswan (https://twitter.com/irvpaswan) on Twitter
Profile on Ambedkar.org (http://www.ambedkar.org/books/tu8.htm)
Profile on HindustanTimes.com dated June 2004 (http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_771260,001600
690000.htm)
Homepage on Lok Sabha website (https://web.archive.org/web/20080417002042/http://164.100.24.209/newls
/Biography.aspx?mpsno=296)
Paswan Profile on TribuneIndia (http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020505/edit.htm#5)
Paswan and Indian Muslims (http://www.anindianmuslim.com/2008/03/ram-vilas-paswan-and-muslims.html)

Lok Sabha

Preceded by Member of Parliament

Succeeded by
Ramshekhar Prasad for Hajipur
Ram Sundar Das
Singh 1977 – 1991
 Member of Parliament
Preceded by Succeeded by
for Hajipur
Ram Sundar Das Ram Sundar Das
1996 – 2009

Member of Parliament
Preceded by Succeeded by
for Hajipur
Ram Sundar Das Incumbent
2014 – Present

Political offices

Preceded by Minister of Railways Succeeded by

C. K. Jaffer Sharief 1 June 1996 – 19 March 1998 Nitish Kumar

Minister of Communications and

Preceded by Succeeded by
Information Technology
Atal Bihari Vajpayee Pramod Mahajan
13 October 1999 - 1 September 2001

Minister of Mines Succeeded by

Preceded by
1 September 2001 - 29 April 2002 Sunder Lal Patwa

Minister of Chemicals and

Succeeded by
Preceded by Fertilizers
M. K. Alagiri
23 May 2004 - 22 May 2009

Preceded by
Minister of Consumer Affairs,
K. V. Thomas Succeeded by
Food and Public Distribution
Minister of State Incumbent
26 May 2014 – Present
(Independent Charge)

Party political offices

Leader of the Lok Jan Shakti Party

Preceded by
in the Lok Sabha Incumbent
Vacant
2014 – Present

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