Union minister Chirag Paswan says he’s a ‘nepo kid’, calls it a ‘double-edged sword’
Jul 17, 2024 07:42 PM IST
The Union minister said his elevation as the party chief was not automatic as he had to prove himself.
Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) president Chirag Paswan, the son of undivided LJP founder late Ram Vilas Paswan, admitted to being a nepotism kid but also termed it as a double-edged sword.
The union minister of food processing industries made this light-hearted confession in an ANI podcast. “I am a nepo kid, I can’t shy away from that fact. I am proud that I am the son of Ram Vilas Paswan Ji. For me its a matter of pride,” said Paswan.
He also termed the privilege as a double-edged sword. “If you do good work, people say that it is because of your parents. So the credit is not yours. but if you do bad, then you will hear abuses. So you are always on a double-edged sword.” said the LJP leader.
Paswan further said his elevation as the party chief was not automatic and he had to prove himself. He mentioned the split within the LJP by his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras, who joined the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in 2020 after the demise of his father and the then-LJP President.
The former Bollywood actor also said he feels that the tag of nepotism is now gone, as he lost everything and had to start from scratch. “I lost everything – the party, the symbol, the organisation and the house we stayed in for three decades. So everything was taken away from me, I had to start from scratch, I did not even know how to make a new party,” Paswan added.
The Hajipur MP credited his mother, Reena Sharma, as his pillar of strength during his political revival journey. Paswan also took a dig at national news channels, which he did not name, for writing political obituaries about him.
After the split of the LJP, Chirag Paswan contested the 2020 Bihar assembly elections alone by fielding candidates only against the JD(U), despite staying within the NDA fold. He led his party’s revival by undertaking a “Ashirwad Yatra” in Bihar ahead of the 2024 general elections.
A staunch supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chirag Paswan’s party emerged as the only NDA partner with a 100 per cent strike rate by winning all five seats in Bihar in the Lok Sabha polls.
