Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan passed away on 8th October – 2020

A federal minister and an ally of Prime Minister Narenda Modi’s ruling coalition

• Veteran Indian politician Ram Vilas Paswan (74 years) died on Thursday after
  weeks in hospital
• Paswan, India’s Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution,
  was admitted to a hospital in New Delhi
• The flag would be flown at half mast on the day and at the place where his
  funeral takes place. State Funeral will be accorded to Paswan

Experienced serious health problems

• Paswan, founder of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and one of the most noted Dalit
  leaders of the country, passed away at the age of 74 after undergoing a heart
  surgery a few days ago
• state funeral will be accorded to Ram Vilas Paswan and the national flag will fly
  at half-mast in Delhi and state capitals on Friday as mark of respect

His role as a politician and an union Minister

• He had been in active politics for more than five decades
• In his role as food minister, Paswan oversaw the world’s biggest food welfare
  program, under which the government gives cheap rice and wheat to India’s
  millions of poor people
• He rose in politics through hard work and determination. As a young leader, he
  resisted tyranny and the assault on our democracy during the Emergency
• He was an outstanding Parliamentarian and Minister, making lasting
  contributions in several policy areas
• In his long political career, Paswan worked with many prime ministers and
  served as India’s mines, steel, and telecommunication and information minister
  among other portfolios
• As the chief of the Lok Janshakti (People’s Power) Party (LJP), Paswan joined
  Modi’s right-wing National Democratic Alliance (NDA) that swept India’s general
  election in 2014
• The NDA was voted back to power with a bigger majority in 201
• Paswan and his party represented India’s Dalits (formerly referred to as the
  “untouchables”), a socially disadvantaged community at the bottom of the
  country’s complex caste hierarchy
• Paswan’s LJP enjoys considerable support in his home state of Bihar in the
  east, where assembly elections will begin later this month

Political Decency

• In 2000, Paswan broke from the Janata Dal, to form the Lok Janshakti Party
  (LJP)
• Following the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Paswan joined the United Progressive
  Alliance government 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
• He was also part of all the national coalitions (the United Front, the National
  Democratic Alliance and the United Progressive Alliance), which have formed
  the Indian Government from 1996 to 2015

Pic courtesy : indiatoday.in