Ram Vilas Paswan
|
|
Ram Vilas Paswan (born July 5, 1946) is an Indian politician from the state of Bihar. He currently leads his newly formed Lok Janshakti Party and is a member of Parliament from Hajipur, Bihar.
Political career
He was elected to the Bihar state assembly in 1969 as a member of the Samyukta Socialist Party. In 1974, he became a close colleague of Jayaprakash Narayan and became the general secretary of the Lok Dal. In 1975, when emergency was proclaimed in India, he was arrested and spent the entire period in jail. In 1977, he became a member of Parliament for the first time winning on a Janata Party ticket and was re-elected to the 7th Lok Sabha in 1980. In 1983, he established the Dalit Sena, an organization for Dalits.
Paswan was re-elected to the 9th Lok Sabha in 1989 and became the minister of labour and welfare in the V P Singh government. He has been a member of Lok Sabha since then to date (as of 2005). In 1996, he even led the ruling alliance in the Lok Sabha as the Prime Ministers were members of the Rajya Sabha. This was also the year when he first became the Railways minister. He held that post till 1998. He served the Union Communications Minister from October 1999 to September 2001 when he became the Coal Minister a portfolio he held till April 2002.
External links
- Profile on ambedkar.org (http://www.ambedkar.org/books/tu8.htm)
- Profile (http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_771260,001600690000.htm) on HindustanTimes.com dated June 2004
- Homepage on Lok Sabha website (http://164.100.24.208/ls/lsmember/homepage.asp?mpsno=296)sv:Ram Vilas Paswan