From zero to hero: The rise of Chirag Paswan

Chirag Paswan of the Lok Janshakti Party has been sworn in as a member of the new Union cabinet.

Chirag Paswan, the representative of the Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency, secured a ministerial position in Modi's 3.0 cabinet. It is a remarkable turnaround for Paswan, once an aspiring movie star, from a potential political non-entity to a Union minister. 

The Hajipur seat holds special significance for Paswan given it was represented by his father, the late Ram Vilas Paswan, who founded the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) in year 2000.

Chirag Paswan's achievement is particularly notable given the previous divisions within his party, led by his uncle Pashupati Paras, which resulted in the loss of the party's official symbol. 

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This forced Paswan, 41, to float a new political outfit, Lok Janshakti Party (Ramvilas Paswan), which won all five seats it contested in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls—Hajipur, Jamui, Khagaria, Samastipur and Vaishali.

Chirag Paswan's political journey began in 2012 when he joined the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP). Two years later, in 2014, he contested and won the Lok Sabha elections from Jamui constituency in Bihar.

This seat holds historical significance for Paswan, as his father represented it eight times since his first victory in 1977. 

During his tenure as an MP, he served on several parliamentary committees and held the position of chairman of LJP's Central Parliamentary Board.

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In 2019, he was re-elected from the Jamui constituency and later that year, he was elected as the national president of the LJP.

Born in 1983, Chirag studied at the National Institute of Open Schooling in Delhi. He pursued a B.Tech in Computer Engineering from the Institute of Engineering and Technology in Jhansi in 2005 but dropped out in the third semester.

Prior to joining politics, Chirag Paswan had a brief stint in Bollywood. In 2011, he made his debut in the movie “Miley Naa Miley Hum” alongside Kangana Ranaut, another fellow member of Parliament elected in 2024.

However, the film did not perform well at the box office, leading Chirag to leave the film industry and pursue a career in politics in 2012.

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Chirag's entry into politics was pivotal for the LJP. He played a crucial role in forming an alliance with the BJP in 2014, convincing his father to rekindle the partnership that had been severed in 2002 following the Gujarat riots.

Chirag's efforts quickly revitalized the LJP, which won six seats in 2014 from zero in 2009. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the LJP won the six seats it contested in an alliance with the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) and the BJP.

As per the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission (EC), MP Chirag Paswan's net worth stands at ₹2.68 crore, including movable assets worth ₹1.66 crore and immovable assets worth ₹1.02 crore.

However, Chirag faced controversy after the demise of his father in 2020, when he clashed with his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras. 

In 2021, five LJP MPs rallied against Paswan and joined hands with Paras. Later, everything was ironed out.