With 5 MPs, How Chirag Paswan is Punching Above His Weight in NDA & Prompting U-Turns

In the past, Chirag Paswan has termed himself the ‘Hanuman’ of Narendra Modi. (PTI)

Sources in the LJP say Paswan has his ear to the ground and is cognisant of caste issues that can hurt the NDA politically

On the day the government was about to introduce the Waqf Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha, LJP leader and key NDA ally Chirag Paswan stepped out of the ‘Makr Dwar’ of Parliament and made it clear to CNN-News18 that his party wants the Bill to be sent to a parliamentary committee first.

This was not the first time that Chirag Paswan’s party, which has five MPs in the Lok Sabha, was punching above its weight. A few days before the Waqf Bill issue, LJP MP Shambhavi Choudhary had told CNN-News18 that her party did not agree with the Supreme Court judgment that the SC quota should be subcategorised, and creamy layer be excluded from it. Chirag Paswan followed this up with a press conference, saying his party would move a review petition before the apex court.

On Monday, Chirag Paswan again spoke out — this time against the government’s move to hire 45 professionals as lateral entrants without following the reservation formula.

The government has subsequently sent the Waqf Amendment Bill to a Joint Parliamentary Committee, the Union Cabinet passed a decision saying it won’t implement Supreme Court’s decision on removing creamy layer from SC quota, and, on Tuesday, the government also announced the cancellation of the lateral entry advertisement. Chirag Paswan later thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reversing the move.

Among the TDP (16 MPs), JDU (12 MPs), and Shiv Sena (7 MPs), it is the LJP with five MPs that has become the most vocal ally in the NDA camp, contributing to the government’s U-turns. Chirag Paswan is also a cabinet minister in the government. In the past, he has termed himself as the ‘Hanuman’ of Narendra Modi and was a vociferous critic of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar till the latter joined NDA.

Caste Factor Reigning Supreme

Sources in the LJP say Paswan has his ear to the ground and is cognisant of caste issues that can hurt the NDA politically. They say it is the ‘Bihar Lesson’ from 2015 when the ‘reservation review’ comment of Mohan Bhagwat had hurt the BJP’s chances in the assembly elections then and JDU-RJD alliance romped home by castigating the BJP on the issue of ‘finishing reservations’. Paswan has also been pitching for a pan-India caste census, something that the BJP is against.

However, the Modi government has quickly reversed the lateral entry move, anticipating that the Opposition could make it a big issue in the upcoming assembly elections and hurt the BJP’s chances. The caste narrative has become dominant in the political discourse with Rahul Gandhi making it a major issue in the recent Lok Sabha elections and accusing the government of attempting to change the reservation system. The BJP does not want to hand the Congress any advantage.

It is hence expected that the refreshed lateral entry scheme will also be rolled out soon in time for the assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, putting in place the 60 per cent reservation provisions in such lateral entry processes.