Former Union Minister and founder of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) Ram Vilas Paswan was born to Late Shri Jamun Paswan and Late Smt. Siya Devi in a Dalit family and hails from Shaharbanni village in the Khagaria district of Bihar. Paswan holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Arts degrees from Kosi College, Pilkhi and Patna University.
Born on July 5, 1946, Paswan was an Indian politician from Bihar and the Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the first and second Modi ministries.
He was known for holding cabinet positions under 7 governments. He was known as the weatherman of Indian politics.
Political career:
In the year 1969, before his entry into politics, Ram Vilas Paswan was selected as a DSP in Bihar Police. In 1969, he was elected to the Bihar state legislative assembly in 1969 as a member of the Samyukta Socialist Party from a reserved constituency. In 1974, he became the general secretary of the Lok Dal.
In 1975, during the 21-month emergency, he was arrested and was in jail till the emergency was uplifted.
After his release in 1977, he contested and won the election from the Hajipur constituency on a Janata Party ticket. At that time, he held the world record for winning elections by the highest margin. In 1980 and 1984, he was reelected from the Hajipur constituency.
In 1983, he formed the organization 'Dalit Sena' for the welfare of the Dalit community. The organization was later headed by his brother Ram Chandra Paswan. The organization was later renamed Scheduled Caste Sena.
In 1989, after being reelected from the Hajipur constituency, he was appointed as the Union Minister of Labour and Welfare in the Vishwanath Pratap Singh government. He served till 1990.
From 1996 to 1998, he served as the Union Railway Minister. From October 1999 to September 2001, he served as the Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology. From 2001 to 2002, he was the Union Minister of Mines.
In the year 2000, Paswan left the Janata Dal and formed his own party Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, he joined the UPA government and from 2004 to 2009, he served as the Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
In the 2005 Bihar elections, no party or alliance could form a government by itself. The Governor of Bihar, Buta Singh dissolved the state legislature and called for fresh elections, keeping Bihar under President's Rule. After the fresh elections, the NDA formed the new government in Bihar.
In the 2009 General Elections, he forged an alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav and his Rashtriya Janata Dal and dumped the Indian National Congress. For the first time in 33 years, Paswan lost the elections to former Chief Minister of Bihar, Ram Sundar Das.
From 2014 till his death, he served as the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution.
(with sources inputs)
