On the death anniversary of Ram Vilas Paswan, the man who built a political career entirely on the promise of justice for India's most marginalised, Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma offered a heartfelt tribute on Thursday, October 8, 2026, honouring a leader whose life was inseparable from the cause of the poor and the forgotten. Posting on X, CM Sharma remembered the Lok Janshakti Party founder as a towering figure in public life: 'कोटिशः नमन' — 'a million salutations' — to a man he described as the embodiment of social commitment and selfless service. Sharma wrote that Paswan's 'dedication to the interests of the deprived and underprivileged sections of society, and his simple personality, will always be remembered.'

A Life Devoted to the Margins

Ram Vilas Paswan was among independent India's most consequential Dalit leaders. A founding member and president of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), he served as a Union Cabinet Minister across multiple governments — spanning the Janata Party era, the United Front government, and successive NDA administrations — a feat that reflected both his ideological flexibility and his irreplaceable political weight. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honour, in recognition of his contributions to public life. Passan's parliamentary career stretched across decades. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Hajipur, Bihar — a constituency he won by a record margin in 1977 — and returned to the House multiple times, becoming one of the most recognisable faces of Dalit political assertion in national politics. As a minister, he held portfolios including Food and Consumer Affairs, where he championed food security measures that directly benefited the poorest households.

Why BJP Leaders Continue to Honour Paswan

That a senior BJP leader would publicly salute Paswan is no accident of sentiment. The LJP, now led by his son Chirag Paswan, is a key constituent of the National Democratic Alliance. For BJP leaders, honouring Ram Vilas Paswan serves a dual purpose: it is genuine political respect for a man who partnered with the alliance, and it reinforces the party's outreach to Bihar's Dalit communities — a vote bloc that carries decisive weight in state and national elections. Paswan's legacy remains a living force in Indian coalition politics. His death in October 2020 left a vacuum in Dalit leadership that his son has worked to fill, keeping the LJP's alliance with the BJP intact and active. Social tribute in Indian politics carries real freight — and when a Chief Minister pauses to remember Ram Vilas Paswan by name, with specificity, it is both a mark of respect and a signal to a constituency that is still listening.