Chirag Paswan (born 31 October 1982) is an Indian politician and former actor who is the Union Minister of Food Processing Industries and president of the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas). The son of the veteran Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan, he has been a member of the Lok Sabha since 2014 and represents Hajipur in Bihar, the constituency his father made famous. After losing control of his father’s party in 2021 he rebuilt his own faction into one of the most successful small parties in Bihar.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Chirag Kumar Paswan |
| Born | 31 October 1982 |
| Age | 43 |
| Party | Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) |
| Office | Union Minister of Food Processing Industries (since June 2024) |
| Constituency | Hajipur (since 2024); Jamui (2014–2024) |
| Parents | Ram Vilas Paswan and Reena Paswan |
| Earlier career | Film actor |
Early Life
Chirag is the son of Ram Vilas Paswan, who was a Union minister under six prime ministers, and his second wife, Reena, a former air hostess from a Punjabi family. He grew up in Delhi, where his father lived as a member of Parliament and minister, and went to school there. He enrolled for a computer engineering degree at an institute in Jhansi but left before completing it to try his luck in films.
Career
He trained in acting and made his debut as the lead in the Hindi film Miley Naa Miley Hum (2011), a romantic drama in which he played a tennis player, opposite Kangana Ranaut. The film did poorly at the box office and he did not act again.
He turned to his father’s Lok Janshakti Party and became chairman of its parliamentary board. He is widely credited with persuading his father to return to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance before the 2014 general election, in which the party won six of the seven seats it contested and Chirag himself was elected from Jamui. He was re-elected in 2019 and that November succeeded his father as party president.
Ram Vilas Paswan died in October 2020, weeks before the Bihar Assembly election. Chirag took the party out of the alliance in the state and put up candidates against the Janata Dal (United) of Nitish Kumar while declaring loyalty to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose “Hanuman” he called himself. The party won only one seat, but it cut deeply into the JD(U)’s tally. In June 2021 five of the party’s six Lok Sabha members, led by his uncle Pashupati Kumar Paras, removed him as leader; Paras became a Union minister and the Election Commission froze the party’s name and symbol.
Chirag was allotted the name Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) and spent the next three years touring Bihar under the slogan “Bihar First, Bihari First”. The BJP chose his faction over his uncle’s for the 2024 general election, and it won all five seats it contested. He moved to Hajipur and won by a large margin.
He was sworn in as a Cabinet minister in June 2024 and given the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, a portfolio previously held by his uncle and one important to Bihar’s maize, makhana and litchi growers. In the Bihar Assembly election of November 2025 his party contested as part of the alliance and won 19 seats.
Personal Life
He is unmarried. He has said that his father’s death left him to handle both a family dispute and a political one at once, and he remains estranged from his uncle’s side of the family. He speaks often about wanting young people from Bihar to find work in the state.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Chirag Paswan born?
Chirag Paswan was born on 31 October 1982 and is 43 years old.
Featured image: Chirag Paswan addresses the CEO roundtable of World Food India at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, 19 September 2024. Photo by Ministry of Food Processing Industries, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
