Union minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan’s daughter on Sunday staged a protest against her father, demanding that he withdraw his comment on former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi, IANS reported. Asha Paswan, a Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, at a demonstration near the Lok Janshakti Party office in Patna criticised her father for calling Rabri Devi an “angootha chhap” (illiterate).
Asha Paswan was accompanied by several female Rashtriya Janata Dal party workers. Her husband, Anil Sandhu, is the party’s state president of the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Caste cell. “My father should take back his words,” she said. “He should respect all women.”
The Union minister on Saturday, without naming anybody, had reportedly said that the Rashtriya Janata Dal believed in merely shouting slogans and making an “angootha chhap” the chief minister.
Asha Paswan is the minister’s daughter from his first marriage with Raj Kumari Devi. Her husband said Asha Paswan may contest the Lok Sabha elections from Hajipur if the Rashtriya Janata Dal party gives her ticket, PTI reported. Hajipur is considered to be the minister’s stronghold. “Relationship does not matter in political battlefield,” Sandhu had said.
Sandhu claimed that the minister had neglected the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Caste community. “I treat him with the same respect which I have for my father,” Sandhu said. “If I meet him on any social occasion, I will greet him by touching his feet.”
The minister’s son and Lok Janshakti Party MP Chirag Paswan, described the development as a family matter. “This is not a political matter but a dispute concerning my family and I have never been comfortable talking about personal matters in public,” Chirag Paswan told reporters who asked him for his comment.
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