Dalit icon and late chief minister Bhola Paswan Shastri has found a fresh lease of life with all the major political parties of Bihar falling over themselves to celebrate his birth anniversary.

Dalits constitute around 16 per cent of Bihar’s roughly 11-crore population. Around 6 per cent of the Dalit population is from the Paswan community to which Shastri belonged. And as the momentum builds in the race to the 2019 general election, every party wants to be seen as a champion of the Dalits.

Most political parties in Bihar are celebrating the former chief minister’s birth anniversary with gusto.

The Janata Dal United on Friday announced that a life-size statue of Shastri will be installed in Patna soon.

“Our party leaders have been demanding a statue of Bhola Paswan Shastriji for a long time and even chief minister Nitish Kumarji has given his consent for it. We will install his statue by next year when the party will celebrate the 105thh birth anniversary of Shastriji,” JDU Rajya Sabha member RCP Singh said after garlanding the former chief minister’s photograph in the party office to observe his birth anniversary on Friday.

The JDU’s Dalit cell, led by MLA Jyoti Kumar, had organised the function. Senior leaders, including building construction and housing minister Maheshwar Hazari, former minister Ram Lakhan Ram Raman and MLC Sanjay Gandhi, were present.

The BJP too celebrated the 104th birth anniversary of Shastri in the presence of deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and Governor Lal Ji Tandon at Vidyapati Bhavan.

BJP MLC and former Union minister Sanjay Paswan, who has also written Shastri’s biography, organised the programme.

The LJP has decided to celebrate Shastri’s birth anniversary on September 23 with Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan and others present.

Even RJD, the main Opposition party, has been trying to consolidate its hold over the Dalit vote.

The RJD programme to celebrate Shastri’s birth anniversary will be held on Sunday at SK Memorial Hall with Tejashwi Prasad Yadav as the main speaker.

The party also recently celebrated the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, revered as the country’s tallest Dalit icon, with much fanfare.

Ram Vilas Paswan will attend the LJP event on Sunday Telegraph picture