Paswan writes to PM on Ramandurg issue, says NMDC rightful claimant

New Delhi : With the Lok Sabha elections round the corner, the issue of the Mines Ministry’s intense efforts to ensure the prized Ramandurg iron ore mines for state-run Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation (MMTC) intensified today with Steel Minister Ram Vilas Paswan seeking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s intervention in restraining the Mines Ministry from doing so, arguing that state-run mineral giant National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), under his ministry, was its rightful claimant. The issue is about who should get iron ore mining rights in Ramanadurg range of the state’s Bellary district, considered country’s finest iron ore mine. It all began with Mines Minister Sis Ram Ola making intense efforts in securing the Ramandurg Mines for MMTC, which is under the Commerce Ministry, a move that was firmly opposed by his erstwhile Secretary Shantanu Consul. Ola is understood to have been very angry with Consul for referring the matter to Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar highlighting the need for obtaining the Legislative Department’s advice before endorsing the minister’s contention.

In his letter to the Prime Minister, Paswan pointed out that NMDC had already prospected the said area, way back in 1971-73 and was the first and sole applicant in applying for mining lease for 4.5 square kilometers out of a total area of 16.8 sq km. However, when the Karnataka government de-reserved the entire area in the state’s Bellary district later on NMDC swift moved the Karnataka High Court.

The single judge bench in its order in November 2006 directed the state to consider the PSU’s application for the said area in the Ramandurg mines, which was subsequently upheld by a division bench of the High Court. Paswan also pointed out that another PSU under his ministry, the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL) also under his ministry was also another claimant of the said mines. “KIOCL is fighting for its survival and allotment of Ramandurg mines is crucial to its survival.” He said Steel Secretary Pramod Kumar Rastogi has already taken up the matter with his mines counterpart.
URL- http://www.indianexpress.com/story_print.php?storyid=441518

LJP makes Chandni Chowk tough for Cong

Unlike the 2004 elections, the coveted Chandni Chowk seat might be tough for the Congress this time, as there are many sport spoilers for the party.
Shoaib Iqbal, national vice-president of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), has refused to withdraw his nomination for any Congress candidate except Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“I will not withdraw my nomination in any case. The consideration was just made for the Prime Minister, else the party is prepared to give a tough fight to all including Congress,” Iqbal said.
Meanwhile the LJP, which professes of a strong vote base in Chandni Chawk, is claiming that the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Party (RJD) would support it.
It must be mentioned that the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has also fielded a Muslim candidate from the constituency.

The area has 13.4% Muslim voters, while the reserved and OBC voters constitute 35%. The Punjabi and Sikh voters are 17.5%.

However, delimitation can affect the Congress’ vote bank as many parties are wooing Muslim, Punjabi, SC and OBC voters. It might be recalled the Congress had lost the seat in 1998, as a major chunk of its votes went to LJP’s Shoaib Iqbal. BJP candidate Vijay Goel had won from the constituency. Goel won with a margin of just 1,995 votes while Shoaib Iqbal had polled 52,721 votes.

While in 2004 the Ram Vilas Paswan-led party had supported the Congress.
The BJP, therefore, is counting on the BSP and the LJP candidates to cut into the vote base of the Congress. BJP candidate from the constituency and MCD Standing Committee chairman Vijender Gupta hopes to cash in on political clash between parties.

However, Iqbal said the party would not help the saffron party in any way. “The Congress must ensure that the BJP does not get any credit. Congress will have to show the stand of the UPA government in terms of what it has done in the last five years,” said Iqbal.
However, apart from Chandni Chowk, LJP has not announced any candidate from South Delhi, New Delhi, North East and East Delhi.
URL- http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090331/delhi.htm#7

Chandani Chowk ki kursi kiski....

Union Minister and senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal is a worried man these days. While he was already facing a tough contest after delimitation of his Chandni Chowk constituency, a UPA constituent has only made it tougher. Ram Vilas Paswan’s Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) has declared Shoaib Iqbal, its lone MLA from Delhi, as its candidate for the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat. Sibal is desperately calling the LJP leader with a request to withdraw his candidate. Sibal fears Iqbal, with a reasonable support in the constituency, could upset his chances. Defiant LJP leaders say that the Congress had left no stone unturned to defeat Iqbal in the recent Delhi polls.

URL- http://www.indianexpress.com/story_print.php?storyid=417851

Aap agey hum peechey

Description:Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Laloo Prasad Yadav gestures towards Lok Janshakti party chief Ram Vilas Paswan before their departure for a joint election campaign in Patna on 26 March 2009.

Ram Vilas Paswan – The Indian Obama of Dalits

The National Dalit Front has named its president Ram Vilas Paswan as the prime ministerial candidate of the political grouping.
Front's general secretary Udit Raj said that "politics needs to be redefined" as the time has come to "give a touch to social issues".
"So far in politics, emphasis has been given to political and economical issues. But now the focus should be social issues and politics needs to be redefined. Therefore, Paswan is our candidate for prime ministership," he said.
Raj said in the upcoming general elections, NDF would contest 350 seats across the country and the "sharing of seats would be on the basis of the party's strength at the place".
Terming Barack Obama ascent to the US President seat as a major boost to Dalit politics in India, he said: "Now, Dalits in India have strong feeling that a Dalit should become the Prime Minister."
NATIONAL DALIT FRONT – the alliance and its goals

National Dalit front is an alliance of noted dalit leaders who united to form a strong collaboration which would work for the upliftment of the Dalits (the untouchables). Fighting for causes like reservation for them in private sector, separate fund for their development in proportion to their population and formation of a National Judicial Commission to ensure reservation to them in judicial services

LJP releases list of 12 candidates from Bihar

The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) on Tuesday announced the names of 12 candidates from Bihar, with party chief Ram Vilas Paswan contesting from his traditional Hajipur seat in the April-May parliamentary elections.

The LJP is contesting 12 out of Bihar's 40 Lok Sabha seats, with its ally Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) led by Railways Minister Lalu Prasad contesting the remaining 28. The party also announced three candidates from Jharkhand.

Announcing the candidates, Paswan said he would contest Hajipur (reserved) and his younger brother Ramchandra Paswan would contest from Samastipur (reserved) constituency. The party has fielded film-maker Prakash Jha, who joined the party recently, from West Champaran.

The party has nominated its Saharsa MP Ranjita Ranjan, wife of Rajesh Ranjan Yadav alias Pappu Yadav, from Supaul, as Saharsa has ceased to exist following delimitation.

Veena Devi, the wife of jailed Balia MP Suraj Bhan Singh, will be the party candidate from the Nawada seat. Singh was sentenced to life imprisonment last year for murder of a farmer in 1992 and is not eligible to contest himself. The Balia seat has also ceased to exist following delimitation.

Other LJP leaders nominated include state legislator Rama Singh from Arrah, Satish Kumar from Nalanda, Ashfaque Karim from Katihar, Bhagwan Lal Sahni from Muzaffarpur, Shankar Jha from Purnia and Zakir Anwar from Araria. (IANS)

If it is a question of the first Dalit PM, then why not Ram Vilas Paswan?'

Lok Janshakti Party leader Ram Vilas Paswan has a very clear view on his political inclination with the forthcoming Lok Sabha Elections in his mind. All the hard work he has done for the 'Janta' especially the 'Dalits' makes him one of the best leaders today.

Ram Vilas Paswan is the most popular face on the Indian political map and the media, and yet so modest he still claims to be a 'common man' with a belief that untill you dont think like the 'Aam aadmi', you cannot take decisions for your people. He thinks big and thinks of the future ahead that is why his stature his on an uphill drive.







Here are the excerpts of an interview with a leading electronic channel, where Paswan talks about his plans for the 'Janta' and of himself.

Q.A leader has to think big and think of the future ahead. Anything can happen in politics. But you, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu together, nobody could have imagined three months back.

Paswan : Its just that whatever happened in the Parliament recently. It’s a disgrace for the country and it’s a deed that brought disgrace to the Parliament also. For now, the whole matter is before the Speaker to be examined. But above all, is the national interest. After that comes the interest of the parties and then comes the individual’s interest. But if an individual’s interest becomes more important than the party’s interest and party’s interest becomes more important than the national interest, than that country goes to hell. Whatever happened here, national interest was never considered. And if something happens that goes against the interest of the country, then the individuals whether Lalu, Paswan or Mulyam, are not considered.

Q.Is it just this or is there something more to it?

Paswan : Lets start with UP, since the beginning we have held the view that there is no difference between Mayawati and BJP. Even now both are talking. Left is also caught between them. Or we can accept that all the parties except Left that are with them and that call themselves secular despite the fact that these parties have stayed with the BJP or NDA.

Q. So you don’t think Mayawati is qualified to be the prime minister?

Paswan : No she is not. It happens at times that media plays up something. They are saying its social engineering. What is it? In Bihar, what per cent of vote Nitish Kumar has? He became the chief minister because people were angry with Lalu Yadav. In Punjab, people were angry with Amarinder Singh, so Badal got a chance. Mayawati became the Chief Minister because people were angry with Mulayam. It was a negative vote. All parties were attacking him and were asking for Mulayam’s removal. She got that advantage.

Q.Tell me something, Ram Vilasji. At this point of time, politics is such that you are the first politician who has said something against Mayawati. Nobody either doesn’t want to say anything against Mayawati or doesn’t dare to. Everybody says off the record that if I say something than it will be said that ‘dalit ki beti ko kuch keh diya’.

Paswan : So if she is a dalit’s daughter, than am I not a dalit’s son.
Look Ram Vilas Paswan has no charges against him. But she has charges against her that she is ‘daulat ki beti hain’. Now a dalit whose status is such that she pays income tax equivalent to Ambani’s or pays the same tax as Ambani’s employees, then that person is no longer a dalit. ‘dalit ki beti’ is being used like a slogan. On one side is dalit ki beti, on other is swaran ka raj and then there is bahujan samaj. Keep on sloganeering. Thaku baniya Brahmin choor baki sab hain Dsphur. Tilak tarazu aur talwar, inko maro joota char. And then change the slogan and say haathi nahi ganesh hain brahma Vishnu Mahesh hain. Brahmin shaankh bajayega haathi badta jayega. She adopts a double standard. She talks differently when she meets dalits, muslims or uppercast keeping in view their considerations. She went to Meerut where muslims had not voted for her last time. There she said muslims are terrorists. Even we have stayed in socialist parties. They were Lohaities. There was Lohai, Madhur Miya, mama Balasar, S M Joshi. They were Brahmins. We used to give slogans that proclaimed equality and the need to uplift the lower castes. It said that power is with the English-speaking upper castes and this situation needs to be remedied. These people were from upper caste and there was no contradiction in their statement. But in this case, they call bad names to upper caste and then change stance. What makes me angry is that the Left parties who used to talk about a classless society till yesterday and who were against caste system, they changed their stance abruptly.

Q.But why did they do so? They are intelligent.

Paswan : They don’t realise that if they push Mayawati or Ram Vilas Paswan, then most of the dalit votes are in Punjab where there is not a single BSP MLA. After that there are votes in West Bengal. When the muslims and the dalits in Bengal start understanding this and adopt caste politics, then Left parties wont be able to stay. Dalits have the least reservation in West Bengal.

Q.In a meeting recently you had at Patliputra you did not speak in a cordial manner to Lalu and then you served him food.

Paswan : Its not my habit to speak offensively about someone. But its true that people in Bihar have become distanced from Lalu. This is also true of Nitish Kumar. People are looking for a third option, which is Ram Vilas Paswan and Lok Janshakti Party. If Mayawati is the leader of the dalits, she should try to enter Bihar. Once she went for a meeting in Gandhi maidan, which is a sacred place she went by helicopter. Even the prime minister or the president go the airport and then travel to Gandhi Maidan which is 5 minutes from the airport. She did this to attract the crowd. But still there weren’t many people.

Q.But people say that now she is being projected as the future prime minister, dalit vote in Bihar will shift to her.

Paswan : It wont happen in Bihar. Her votes in Uttar Pradesh will be cut. There is Parsi vote in Uttar Pradesh which is 50 %, then there is khateek, valmiki vote.

Q.Her votes will decrease?

Paswan : She asks for votes on caste. But there are Ambedkarites among them. She is getting her own statues constructed after demolishing Ambedkar’s. There is the philosophy of Periyar. She has banned the book on periyar and his photos. There are Ambedkarites even among those belonging to the same caste as her. There are many castes in scheduled tribes. In every state among schedule castes, there is Republican party and others, even in the south. Even after she became the CM, she got just 1.75 per cent in Gujrat, 2 per cent in Himachal Pradesh. Where has she reached?

Q.Tell me something. Yours is a small party which gives it the advantage of having flexibility. You have been with the NDA, UPA and third front. You are like the DMK. Is it a possibility that if NDA forms the government tomorrow, you would support them?

Paswan : No. I have said initially that I made the biggest mistake of my life. I had harmed my interests and had drunk poison after losing my temper over Lalu Yadav. Then I had joined the NDA. But in 1998, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government was falling because of one vote. Yashwant Sinha, Uma Bharti and others came to my place.

Q.You had given a brilliant speech at that time. You had said that 40 people came with Babar. You didn’t allow others to enter the temple.

Paswan : Yes and I also said that when Babar came Ibrahim Lodhi was ruling the country. Before that was the Khijli dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty, Slave dynasty and Ghauri dynasty. How many people came with those 1,500? And how many muslims do we have today in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh taken together? They are 50 crore. They are not Babar’s children. The biggest reason for this is that till you don’t clean the Ganges, it will continue to breed more insects. Islam is a sacred religion. Islam said everybody is equal before god. If you are not allowed to enter the temples, you can come to the mosques. You eat at the same dastarkhan with others. This was the reason people converted to Islam.

Q.The reason was caste system.

Paswan : Yes. Because of caste system, Sikhism and Christanity came into being. There are 29 per cent dalits in Sikhism. There wont be any Brahmins there. You would find adivasi dalits among christans. Many people converted to Buddhism due to Ambedkar. There were 10 lakh people. All this because of caste discrimination.

Q.So you will never go with the NDA?

Paswan : No. In the beginning, we had said that if JD(U), Nitish Kumar’s party separates from the BJP than we might go with them. But this is not a possibility. They wont leave.

Q.You have worked with different prime ministers- VP Singh, Deve Gowda, Vajpayee, Gujral and Dr. Manmohan Singh. Tell me something about each one of them in a line.

Paswan : VP Singh believed in an ideology and never compromised on any issue related to the dalits. He made a mistake because he was in opposition to the Congress. When it came to the issue of supporting the government, BJP was there to suuport. But even then he never compromised on any issue. I also worked with Chaudhary Charan Singh. His agenda was that of farmers.

Q.You have spoken like a 100 per cent politician. I can tell you whatever happens, elections or no elections you would be on the winning side and you will be a friend.

Paswan : Thank you very much.

Political Twist in Bihar. Lok Sabha Election 2009 Paswan's LJP bags best deal

Politics is a game of rise and fall, the upturn and downfall decides the results. One look at the trends and anyone can take a guess as to who’s the likely hero.

The wildfire these days is the upcoming elections and the talk of the town is the agreement between RJD and LJP for seat sharing in Bihar for Lok Sabha seats. While RJD is contesting on just 1 more seat than what they won in the last elections, Paswan’s Lok Janshakti Party being favoured by the public has gained 12 seats which is 4 seats more than last elections and whopping 8 more than what they won.


With his spotless and positive image Paswan is regarded as the strongest contender in the fight. His contribution to the public at large, especially Dalits has won him accolades from all sections of Bihar.

It is fascinating to know that Paswan has served as a Union Minster under five different Prime Ministers and enjoys the distinction of continuously holding a cabinet berth in all the Council of Ministers formed since 1996 (as of 2009). 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), despite which Paswan held onto his own principles and beliefs and his strong persona could never be shaken or maligned for any political agendas of a particular party or leader.

Paswan always had a clear ideology for his party, he worked day and night for the welfare of dalits and never succumbed to any political pressures.

Today, the party he has been nurturing for years has come so strong that UPA had to convince themselves to dedicate twice more seats to LJP than their last election’s winning figure.