Last updated: August 21, 2024 10:02 IST
Chirag Paswan had once described himself as Narendra Modi’s “Hanuman”. (PTI)
Sources in the LJP said Paswan is listening to public opinion and is aware of the caste issue which could hit the NDA politically.
On the day the government was set to introduce the Wakf Amendment Bill in the Indian Parliament, LJP leader and key NDA ally Chirag Paswan came out of Parliament’s ‘Makr Dwar’ and made it clear to CNN-News18 that his party wanted the bill to be sent to a parliamentary committee first.
This is not the first time that Chirag Paswan’s party, which has five members in the lower house of parliament, has overplayed its game. A few days before the Wakf bill issue, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Shambavi Choudhury told CNN News 18 that the party did not agree with the Supreme Court’s ruling that the Supreme Court quota should be subdivided and the creamy layer removed. Chirag Paswan followed up at a press conference by saying the party would file a review petition in the Supreme Court.
On Monday, Chirag Paswan again raised his voice, this time opposing the government’s move to hire 45 experts across the board without following the reservation formula.
The government then sent the Wakf Amendment Bill to the Joint Parliamentary Committee, the Union Cabinet passed a decision not to implement the Supreme Court decision to exclude the creamy class from the SC quota, and on Tuesday the government also announced the cancellation of the cross-sectional entry advertisement.Chirag Paswan subsequently thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reversing the move.
Among the TDP (16 MPs), JDU (12 MPs) and Shiv Sena (7 MPs), the LJP, with 5 MPs, has been the most vocal in the NDA camp and has been instrumental in changing the government’s course. Chirag Paswan is also a minister in the government. In the past, he has called himself Narendra Modi’s “Hanuman” and was a fierce critic of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar before he joined the NDA.
Caste factors dominate
LJP sources say Paswan is open to public opinion and is aware of the caste issue, which could hurt the NDA politically. They say this is the “lesson from Bihar” of 2015, when Mohan Bhagwat’s “reservation review” remarks hurt the BJP’s chances in the state assembly elections and the JDU-RJD combine slammed the BJP on the “end reservation” issue and won by a landslide. Paswan has also called for a pan-India caste census, which the BJP opposes.
But the Modi government quickly backed away from the move, expecting that the opposition would make it a major issue in the upcoming state assembly elections, hurting the BJP’s chances. The caste narrative has dominated political discourse since Rahul Gandhi made it a major issue in the recent Lok Sabha elections, accusing the government of trying to change the reservation system. The BJP does not want to give the Congress any advantage.
Hence, an updated cross-sectional entry regime is also expected to be rolled out soon in time for the state assembly elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand, introducing a 60 per cent reservation provision in the cross-sectional entry process.
