Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader Ram Vilas Paswan passed away on Thursday, 8 October, his son Chirag Paswan announced on Twitter. The 74-year-old Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution had undergone a heart surgery a few days ago at a Delhi hospital.
“Papa .... Now you are not in this world but I know you are always with me wherever you are. Miss you Papa...,” the younger Paswan wrote on Twitter on Thursday evening.
The Union Home Ministry announced soon after his demise that the national flag would be flown at half-mast on Friday in Delhi and capitals of states and Union Territories where it is regularly flown as a mark of respect for the late political leader. It added that the flag would also be at half-mast on the day of his funeral, ANI reported.
PM Narendra Modi, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda, and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis were among those who called upon LJP chief Chirag Paswan and paid their condolences over the demise of his father on Thursday, ANI reported.
Paswan was an eight-time Lok Sabha member and a current Rajya Sabha MP.
An experienced politician, Paswan had the rare distinction of serving as a minister in the Cabinets of six prime ministers. He started off as a member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly in the 1960s and shot to fame in the 1977 post-Emergency Lok Sabha polls when he won Hajipur seat by over four lakh votes, then a record margin, PTI reported.
A victory in 1989 got him his first stint in the Cabinet of VP Singh, where he was appointed as labour minister.
Less than a decade later, he was appointed railway minister in successive governments headed by HD Deve Gowda and IK Gujaral which together lasted a couple of years.
Later, he floated his own party, the LJP, with a view to exploring possibilities as the foremost Dalit leader in Bihar after Babu Jagjivan Ram, PTI reported.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI.)
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