Union consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan died on Thursday at a Delhi hospital at the age of 74. The Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) leader had been ill for some time and had recently undergone heart surgery.
His son Chirag Paswan tweeted the news with an old photo of him as a child with his father.
Paswan, who had been in active politics for more than five decades, was one of the country’s most prominent Dalit leaders. He entered the Bihar assembly in 1969 from the Samyukta Socialist Party.
In 1977, he became an MP from the Janata Party, and achieved the feat of entering the Guinness Book of World Records for winning an election with the largest victory margin. He bettered his record in 1989, though this was later eclipsed by other leaders including PM Narendra Modi and CPM leader Anil Basu.
He formed the LJP in 2000. Paswan has served as a minister in both the Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA governments.
President Ram Nath Kovind, PM Modi and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, among others, tweeted condolences.