<p><em>After the elections are over, Paswan will once again trudge back into oblivion, writes <strong>Manish Kumar Pathak</strong></em><br><br>Ram Vilas Paswan, turned 69 on Sunday. The political giant of Bihar, outlined his main focus; to rid the state of the Nitish-Lalu combine and put in place a National Democratic Alliance government.<br><br>Paswan, has forever been on the political horizon of Bihar, and yet he has never assumed a position of prominence, and has always remained a side-kick of the eventual chief ministers of the state. Paswan, started his political career in 1969, which was eight years before Lalu Prasad Yadav entered the parliament, and 16 years before Nitish Kumar was elected MLA. The current stature of the three leaders vividly explains the position Paswan has been relegated into.<br><br>It is very intriguing that a person with so much experience and presence in the state, has never been in-charge of his own fortunes, and has always remained in the background, somewhere reigning in the shadows of others. Perhaps, it is do with the opportunist nature of politics, or perhaps it is the voracity of reaping benefits of power, Paswan has forever been a part in the Centre, as an alliance of the governments irrespective of the ideology (he has served under six different Prime Ministers). The political nuances have been so cleverly used by him that inspite of not having a raging presence in the state (number-wise), managing New Delhi has never been an issue for him.<br><br>So, has he lost his own sheen, by trying to please the bigger leaders? Has he gambled way too far, to drag himself out of any prominence. Other leaders, from Lalu to Nitish, from Sushil Modi to Ravi Shankar Prasad have started late and have leap-frogged him. His prominence has dwindled so much that there are not even any muted utterances of him being the potential Chief Minister candidate. Also, in an attempt to stay relevant in the NDA he has withdrawn his name from the list of aspirants for the post of Chief Minister! Sums up the career of Paswan!<br><br>Bihar has always thrown interesting political alignments, and Ram Vilas Paswan, has been present somewhere every time, and in these coming elections too he will important in the caste –driven politics of the state. And after the elections are over, he will once again trudge back into oblivion.</p>
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