RAMVILAS PASWAN : Unforgettable legacy Who Wore Many Hats With Extended Acumen.

Ramvilas Paswan was an Indian politician from Bihar and the Cabinet Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the Modi ministry. He was also the president of the Lok Janshakti Party, an 8-time member of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. He started his political career as a member of the Samyukta Socialist Party and was elected to the Bihar Legislative Assembly in 1969. Later, he joined Lok Dal upon its formation in 1974 and became its general secretary. He denied the emergency and was arrested during this period. He entered the Lok Sabha in 1977, as a Janata Party member from Hajipur constituency, was chosen again in 1980, 1989, 1996 and 1998, 1999, 2004, and 2014.

Subsequently, in 2004 he joined the verdict United Progressive Alliance government and remained a Union Minister in the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and Ministry of Steel. He won the 2004 Lok Sabha elections but lost the 2009 elections. Paswan was re-elected to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989 and was appointed Union Minister of Labour and Welfare. In 1996 he even governed the ruling alliance or Proposition in the Lok Sabha as the Prime Minister was a member of the Rajya Sabha. This was also the year when he first became the Union Railway Minister. He continued to hold that post till 1998. Thereafter, he was the Union Communications Minister from October 1999 to September 2001 when he was switched to the Coal Ministry, the portfolio he held till April 2002.

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 the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers and Ministry of Steel.

He 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, and the United Progressive Alliance), which have formed the Indian Government from 1996 to 2015.

EARLY LIFE

Ramvilas Paswan was born on 5 July 1946, British India in a Dalit family in Shaharbanni, Khagaria district of Bihar to Jamun Paswan and Siya Devi. He holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Arts degrees from Kosi College, Patna University. He was married to Rajkumari Devi in the 1960s. In 2014 he revealed that he had divorced her in 1981 after his Lok Sabha nomination papers were challenged. He has two daughters from his first wife, Usha, and Asha. In 1983, he married Reena Sharma, an air hostess and a Punjabi Hindu from Amritsar. They have a son and a daughter. His son Chirag Paswan is an actor-turned-politician.

Interesting Facts about late Ram Vilas Paswan 

• Ram Vilas Paswan was known to be an 8-time Lok Sabha member and former Rajya Sabha MP.
• He was the Chairman, Vichar Shakti, 2002
• He was the Member, of SC/ST Welfare Committee 1977-78, DDA Advisory Council, 1980-85, Parliamentary Official Language Committee, 1980-85 and 1989-95, AIIMS Advisory Committee, 1991-96 and Court, Jawaharlal Nehru University, 1998-99, India-Trinidad and Tobago Parliamentary Friendship Group (since July 2010)
• He is also interested in Chess. He was such a tremendous person who has qualified the Bihar civil service examination in1967 for the position of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) but instead of working as the police officer, he decided to follow a career in politics.
• He was the principal founder and long-time President of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP)

We lost this enormous personality recently on 8 October 2020. He breathed last in Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, Delhi.His son Chirag Paswan clarified about his sudden illness and heart surgery.

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