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Nov 1, 1999
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SPECIAL SERIES Sanjay Paswan, 37
Dalit Leader from Bihar, BJP MP
DALIT HOPE
You know there's
a spark when he has already achieved the impossible. At the height of Laloo-power in Bihar
in 1996, a low-key lecturer of labour and social welfare shouted Yadav down at a
Dalit-power meeting, jeered and heckled the king of crowing into leaving in a huff. Sanjay
Paswan, who once kept hard-left on the road, is today a labour union-leader-turned BJP's
future, key Dalit lever in northern India. Says state BJP chief Saryu Roy: "Paswan
has tremendous organisational capacity and his oratory and conviction are additional
qualifications." Paswan switched to the BJP from the ultra-Left because he felt
"Marxism-Leninism wasn't helping Dalits, the BJP could". This first-time MP
likes playing chess. Other moves will bring him to the forefront in Bihar, where caste has
never been more important and Laloo's forces are in complete disarray.
-Sanjay Kumar Jha |
