Union Minister and one of the renowned Dalit leaders Ram Vilas Paswan has passed away on Thursday at the age of 74 in Delhi due to health-related ailments. His demise has come days ahead of the Bihar legislative elections in which his Lok Janshakti Party has been influential and it has come hours after his party has released the first list of candidates for the state polls.

Paswan was serving as the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution in the current cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Dalit leader has been battling for survival for the past few weeks and he was getting treated at a private hospital in Delhi. The Union Minister had undergone heart surgery on October 3 and he was placed under critical condition.

According to reports, he had been suffering from a heart ailment and amid the treatment, he breathed his last during the evening hours of Thursday at 74. His son Chirag Paswan, who has been leading the party in the absence of the Union Minister, took to Twitter and issued conformity that his father had passed away. Taking to Twitter, Chirag wrote, "Papa, now you are no longer in this world but I know wherever you are, you will always be with me. Miss you papa". 

पापा....अब आप इस दुनिया में नहीं हैं लेकिन मुझे पता है आप जहां भी हैं हमेशा मेरे साथ हैं।
Miss you Papa... pic.twitter.com/Qc9wF6Jl6Z

— युवा बिहारी चिराग पासवान (@iChiragPaswan) October 8, 2020

Chirag has posted his childhood picture hugging his father and shared the distressing news to the nation. Chirag Paswan has been burdened with political challenges to retain his father's place and stronghold in the state of Bihar and with the elections are fast approaching, one of the crucial challenges that lie ahead of him is steering the party towards the polls as he has been preparing to take on the ruling Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United. 

Ram Vilas Paswan had been an unmissable national politician in the sphere of national politics and with a political career that spans for over five decades, Paswan has built a reputation across and beyond Bihar by being a notable Dalit leader. He was an eight-time MP and served in the cabinet of five Prime Ministers, which made him as a remarkable politician. He was elected from Rajya Sabha during the current term and had been serving as the Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public distribution. 

Paswan had begun his political career as a member of the Samyuktha Socialist Party and was elected as an MLA to the Bihar Assembly in 1969. In 1974, he joined the Lok Dal and he was one of the fierce leaders that stood against the Emergency in 1975 and he was arrested and imprisoned. In 1977, he was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time from the Hajipur constituency and he had served as a Parliamentarian in 1980, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2004, and 2014. 

In 2019, he was elected as a Rajya Sabha member and he had been serving as the Union Minister for Customer Affairs since 2014. Earlier, he had served as the Union Minister for Railways, Labour and Welfare, Chemicals and Fertilizers, Mines, Communications and Information Technology. He was born on July 5, 1946, and he had acquired a Bachelor's degree in Law and a Master's degree in Arts from Patna University. 

He had undergone police training and served as the Deputy Superintendent of Police in 1969. He then came out of the police service and started a career as a politician. In 2000, he had formed the Lok Janshakti Party and in 2004, he allied with the United Progressive Alliance, headed by the Congress party. When he was under treatment, his party members and national leaders had wished him a speedy recovery and his family had expressed hope that he will get recovered. However, he had passed away. Earlier, Chirag Paswan had thanked people for their wishes and standing with the family at this difficult time.