Ram Vilas Paswan (5 July 19468 October 2020) was an
Indian politician
The Politics and Government of India works within the framework of the country's Constitution, which was adopted in 1950. India is a parliamentary secular democratic republic, described as a “sovereign, socialist, secular democratic republ ...
from
Bihar
Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
and the Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the
first and
second
The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...
Modi ministries. Paswan was also the president of the
Lok Janshakti Party, nine-times
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...
member and two-time
Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...
MP. He started his political career as member of
Samyukta Socialist Party
Samyukta Socialist Party (; SSP), was a political party in India from 1964 to 1974. SSP was formed through a split in the Praja Socialist Party (PSP) in 1964. In 1965, Ram Manohar Lohia merged his Socialist Party (Lohia) with SSP and conteste ...
and was elected to the
Bihar Legislative Assembly
The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the bicameral Bihar Legislature of the state of Bihar in India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is ...
in 1969. Later, Paswan joined
Lok Dal
Lokdal or Lok Dal is an Indian political party based on agriculture policies, founded by former Prime Minister Charan Singh. It was founded on 26 September 1979 by merging Janata Party (Secular), Socialist Party (Limaye) and Orissa Janata Party ...
upon its formation in 1974, and became its general secretary. He opposed the
emergency
An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...
, and was arrested during this period. He first entered the
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...
in 1977, as a
Janata Party
The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu.
The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...
member from
Hajipur constituency, and was elected again in 1980, 1989, 1991 (from Rosera), 1996, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2014.
In 2000, Paswan formed the
Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) as its president. Subsequently, in 2004, he joined the ruling
United Progressive Alliance
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA; Hindi: Saṁyukta Pragatiśīl Gaṭhabandhan) was a Political group, political alliance in India led by the Indian National Congress. It was formed after the 2004 Indian general election, 2004 general ele ...
government and remained a Union Minister in
Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and
Ministry of Steel
The Ministry of Steel is an executive branch agency of the Government of India that is responsible for formulating all policies regarding steel production, distribution and pricing in India. As of June 2024, the ministry is headed by a Secretary ...
. He was posthumously awarded India's third highest civilian award the
Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan (IAST: ''Padma Bhūṣaṇa'', lit. 'Lotus Decoration') is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 Januar ...
in 2021.
Known for holding cabinet positions under 7 governments, Paswan was known as the weatherman of Indian politics. As of 2024, he is the
longest-serving Union minister who was not a member of the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
.
Early life and education
Paswan was born in a
Dusadh
The Paswan, also known as Dusadh, are a Dalit community from eastern India. They are found mainly in the states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. The Urdu word ''Paswan'' means bodyguard or "one who defends". The origin of the word, per th ...
family on 5 July 1946 in Shaharbanni,
Khagaria district of
Bihar
Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
to Jamun Paswan and Siya Devi.
Paswan held
Bachelor of Laws
A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...
and
Master of Arts
A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...
degrees from Kosi College, Khagaria and
Patna University. He had been selected as a
DSP in
Bihar Police in 1969.
Political career
Paswan was elected to the Bihar state legislative assembly in 1969 as a member of the
Samyukta Socialist Party
Samyukta Socialist Party (; SSP), was a political party in India from 1964 to 1974. SSP was formed through a split in the Praja Socialist Party (PSP) in 1964. In 1965, Ram Manohar Lohia merged his Socialist Party (Lohia) with SSP and conteste ...
(''"United Socialist Party"'') from
Alauli, a reserved constituency. He lost 1972 Vidhan Sabha election from Alauli to Shri Mishri Sada of Congress. In 1974, as an ardent follower of
Raj Narain
Raj Narain (23 November 1917 – 31 December 1986) was an Indian freedom fighter and politician. He won in a famous electoral malpractice case against the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which led to her disqualification and, eventually, im ...
and
Jayaprakash Narayan
Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and Indian independence activist, independence activist. He is mai ...
Paswan became the general secretary of the
Lok Dal
Lokdal or Lok Dal is an Indian political party based on agriculture policies, founded by former Prime Minister Charan Singh. It was founded on 26 September 1979 by merging Janata Party (Secular), Socialist Party (Limaye) and Orissa Janata Party ...
. He was personally close to the prominent leaders of anti-emergency like
Raj Narain
Raj Narain (23 November 1917 – 31 December 1986) was an Indian freedom fighter and politician. He won in a famous electoral malpractice case against the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which led to her disqualification and, eventually, im ...
,
Karpoori Thakur and
Satyendra Narayan Sinha
Satyendra Narayan Sinha (12 July 1917 – 4 September 2006) was an Indian politician and statesman, participant in the Indian independence movement, a leading light of Jaya Prakash Narayan's ‘ ''complete revolution''’ movement during the E ...
.
In 1975, when
emergency
An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...
was proclaimed in India, Paswan was arrested and spent the entire period in jail. On being released in 1977, he became a member of the
Janata Party
The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu.
The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...
and won election to
Parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
for the first time on its ticket from
Hajipur with a record margin (later broken) of 424,000 and 89.3% votes which is perhaps an all-time record for general election in India. Former PM Narasimha Rao got a higher percentage of vote in a 1991 bye-poll. When Janata Party split in 1979, he joined Charan Singh's faction. Paswan was re-elected to the 7th
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...
in 1980 from Hajipur constituency as Janata Party (Socialist) candidate. In 1983, he established the Dalit Sena, an organisation for
Dalit
Dalit ( from meaning "broken/scattered") is a term used for untouchables and outcasts, who represented the lowest stratum of the castes in the Indian subcontinent. They are also called Harijans. Dalits were excluded from the fourfold var ...
emancipation and welfare. The Dalit Sena was later headed by his brother
Ram Chandra Paswan. Later it was renamed as
Scheduled Caste sena in a vein similar to the Scheduled Caste federation established by
Bhim Rao Ambedkar. Paswan lost 1984 Lok Sabha election from Hajipur.
Paswan was elected to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989 and was appointed Union Minister of Labour and Welfare in the
Vishwanath Pratap Singh
Vishwanath Pratap Singh (25 June 1931 – 27 November 2008) was an Indian politician who served as the prime minister of India from 1989 to 1990 and the Raja Bahadur of Manda.
He was educated at Allahabad University and Fergusson College in ...
government.
He was elected to Lok Sabha from
Rosera (Lok Sabha constituency)
Rosera was a Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar, India.
Assembly segments
No. 16 Rosera (रोसड़ा / रोसरा) Parliamentary Constituency was composed of the following assembly segments in 2004:
*Ghanshyampur (Vidhan Sabha constitu ...
in 1991, the only time between 1977 and 2014 when he did not contest from Hajipur. In 1996, he won again from Hajipur, and he even led the ruling alliance or proposition in the Lok Sabha as the
prime minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
was a member of the
Rajya Sabha
Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...
. This was also the year when Paswan first became the Union Railway Minister. He continued to hold that post till 1998.
Thereafter, Paswan was the Union
Communications
Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...
Minister from October 1999 to September 2001 when he was shifted to the Coal Ministry, the portfolio he held till April 2002.
In 2000, Paswan broke from the
Janata Dal
Janata Dal () was an List of political parties in India, Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha on 11 October 1988—the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Na ...
, to form the
Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). He resigned as minister and left the ruling NDA in 2002 after developing differences with BJP. Following the
2004 Lok Sabha elections
General elections were held in India in four phases between 20 April and 10 May 2004. Over 670 million people were eligible to vote, electing 543 members of the 14th Lok Sabha. Seven states also held assembly elections to elect state government ...
,
Paswan joined the United Progressive Alliance government and was made the Union Minister in
Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and
Ministry of Steel
The Ministry of Steel is an executive branch agency of the Government of India that is responsible for formulating all policies regarding steel production, distribution and pricing in India. As of June 2024, the ministry is headed by a Secretary ...
.
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 Lalu Prasad Yadav, whom he accused of being extremely corrupt, or the right-wing
National Democratic Alliance
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Rāṣṭrīya Lokatāntrik Gaṭhabandhan'') is an Indian big tent Political group, multi-party political alliance, led by the country's biggest political party, the Bharatiya Janata Pa ...
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
A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...
, which will continue with both him and Laloo Yadav as ministers.
Paswan has served as a Union Minister under five different Prime Ministers and continuously held a cabinet berth in all the
Council of Ministers
Council of Ministers is a traditional name given to the supreme Executive (government), executive organ in some governments. It is usually equivalent to the term Cabinet (government), cabinet. The term Council of State is a similar name that also m ...
formed since 1996 (as of 2015). He was also part of all the national coalitions (the
United Front
A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political and/ ...
, the National Democratic Alliance and the United Progressive Alliance), which have formed the Indian Government from 1996 to 2015.
2009 Indian general election
For the
2009 Indian general election
General elections were held in India in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009 to elect the members of the fifteenth Lok Sabha. With a registered electorate of 716 million and a turnout of 417 million voters, it was the l ...
Paswan forged an alliance with Lalu Prasad Yadav and his
Rashtriya Janata Dal
The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: National People's Party) is an Indian political party, mainly based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav.
The party's support base has traditionally been Other ...
, while dumping their erstwhile coalition partner and leader of the United Progressive Alliance, the
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
from the new alliance. The duo was later joined by
Mulayam Singh's
Samajwadi Party
The Samajwadi Party ( SP; ) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India. It was founded on 4 October 1992 by former Janata Dal politician Mulayam Singh Yadav and is headquartered in New Delhi. It is the third-largest political party in ...
and were declared the Fourth Front. Paswan lost the elections from
Hajipur to the
Janata Dal
Janata Dal () was an List of political parties in India, Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha on 11 October 1988—the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Na ...
's Ram Sundar Das, a former
chief minister
A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...
of
Bihar
Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
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.
2010 assembly election
Before the assembly elections to be held in 2010, Paswan was elected to the Rajya Sabha from the assembly, Ram Vilas Paswan and
Lalu fought the
2010 Bihar election together and also claimed to form the government in Bihar with two-thirds majority. They termed the
Nitish B.J.P. government that has been running for 5 years as ineffective and accused
Nitish of taking
Bihar
Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
into trouble. The work of taking has been done due to which
Bihar
Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
has lagged further behind. Accusing the
N.D.A., he said that 30 percent of the voters in Bihar are fake and the
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
is also behind this.
Lalu's party
RJD and Ram Vilas had fought this election together in alliance, in which
L.J.P. fielded its candidates on 75 seats, while only 3 candidates could win, and could not even save the deposit on many seats. This performance of the party was less than the last election of
2005 Bihar election. The condition of the alliance was such that only 22 candidates could win for RJD. Seeing such poor performance of the party, Paswan and Lalu's Dalit, Muslim and backward politics took a new dimension.
2014 Indian general election
Paswan was elected as member of
16th Lok Sabha
Members of the 16th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2014 Indian general election. The elections were conducted in 9 phases from 7 April 2014 to 12 May 2014 by the Election Commission of India. The results of the election were declared on 16 May ...
after the
2014 Indian general election
General elections were held in India in nine phases from 7 April to 12 May 2014 to elect the members of the 16th Lok Sabha. With 834 million registered voters, they were the largest-ever elections in the world until being surpassed by the 2019 ...
from
Hajipur constituency when he contested in alliance with BJP, while his son Chirag Paswan won from
Jamui constituency also in Bihar.
Paswan was again given charge of the
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in May 2014, which continued in
Second Modi ministry
The Second Modi ministry, also called Modi 2.0 was the Union Council of Ministers of India, Council of Ministers headed by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi that was formed after the 2019 Indian general election, 2019 general election whi ...
in 2019. He was elected to Rajya Sabha in 2019 with the help of BJP though his own party had only 2 MLAs in the state assembly.
Personal life
Paswan married Rajkumari Devi in the 1960s. In 2014, he disclosed that he had divorced her in 1981, after his
Lok Sabha
The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...
nomination papers were challenged.
Paswan had two daughters from first wife, Usha and Asha.
In 1983, he married Reena Sharma, an air hostess.
They had a son and a daughter. His son
Chirag Kumar Paswan is an actor-turned-politician.
He was often called a dynast. He brought his brothers
Pashupati Kumar Paras and
Ram Chandra Paswan into politics. Of the six seats that the LJP won in 2019, three were from his family – son Chirag, and brothers Pashupati Kumar Paras and Ram Chandra Paswan. Ram Chandra's son
Prince Raj succeeded his father upon his death.
Death
Paswan died on 8 October 2020, and his death was confirmed by his son, Chirag Paswan. Paswan had undergone
heart surgery and was hospitalised for a few weeks prior to his death. Paswan was cremated in Patna on 10 October 2020. His body was brought to Janardan Ghat in the Digha locality from his residence in Shri Krishna Puri, about 3 km away, for the last rites.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to Paswan's Delhi residence to pay homage to him. Also, senior leader and former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav paid tribute to him.
References
External links
*
Official biographical sketch in Parliament of India websiteHomepage on Lok Sabha websiteUnion Minister Ram Vilas Paswan passes away
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paswan, Ram Vilas
1946 births
2020 deaths
Lok Janshakti Party politicians
V. P. Singh administration
India MPs 1977–1979
India MPs 1980–1984
India MPs 1989–1991
India MPs 1991–1996
India MPs 1996–1997
India MPs 1998–1999
India MPs 1999–2004
India MPs 2004–2009
Rajya Sabha members from Bihar
India MPs 2014–2019
Lok Sabha members from Bihar
People from Khagaria district
Samyukta Socialist Party politicians
Janata Dal politicians
Janata Party politicians
Janata Dal (United) politicians
Bihar MLAs 1969–1972
Leaders of the Lok Sabha
Dalit activists
Dalit politicians
Narendra Modi ministry
Railway ministers of India
Labour ministers of India
Steel ministers of India
Coal ministers of India
Mining ministers of India
Members of the Cabinet of India
Lok Dal politicians