10/14/2020 Jitan Ram Manjhi: The man of many U-turns looks to turn a corner | Elections News,The Indian Express
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Home / Elections / Jitan Ram Manjhi: The man of many U-turns looks to turn a corner
Jitan Ram Manjhi: The man of
many U-turns looks to turn a
corner
NDA needs a Dalit leader after Paswan's death, and Jitan Ram Manjhi seeks to
be that man.
W ritten by Santosh Singh | Patna | Updated: October 14, 2020 12:54:14 pm
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10/14/2020 Jitan Ram Manjhi: The man of many U-turns looks to turn a corner | Elections News,The Indian Express
Jitan Ram Manjhi is re-contesting from Imamganj, against two-time Bihar Speaker and RJD candidate
Uday Narayan Choudhary.
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In May 2014, Jitan Ram Manjhi had been Nitish Kumar’s surprise choice for chief
What will dec
minister — a choice dictated both by the 70-year-old’s surname and the fact that
he kept a low profile and was expected to keep the seat warm for the JD(U)
leader who had resigned in a huff after a massive defeat in the Lok Sabha
elections that year. It marked a big moment for Manjhi’s Mushahar community,
among the lowest of the low in the caste hierarchy and around 2% of the state’s
voters. It was also only the third time that a Scheduled Caste leader had become
the CM of Bihar, despite the caste churning that rose from its fertile politics. The
others were Bhola Paswan Shastri and Ram Sunder Das.
Nitish was seen to have retained EBC and Scheduled Caste votes in the 2014 polls,
besides those of his core constituency of OBC Koeris and Kurmis. Manjhi was a
gamble to get the Mahadalits behind him too.
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However, Nitish — who was candid in his admission to this reporter at the time
that he had “chosen Manjhi for CM post because he was not a leader” — had
been in for a surprise. Just two months in, Manjhi had shown he was far from
content remaining in the JD(U) leader’s shadow — so much so that Nitish had
returned as CM in February 2015, a few months before the Assembly polls.
Manjhi, in turn, had split and set up his own party, the Hindustani Awam
Morcha-Secular (HAM-S), and joined the BJP-led NDA. Nitish fought those polls
aligned with the RJD and Congress.
The 2015 results had proved a non-starter for Manjhi, getting him only one seat
and ensuring he had almost no bargaining power with the BJP. Then, Manji had
headed to the Grand Alliance, though the Modi sweep in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls
ensured the NDA had left little for anything else.
Now, with the NDA still holding the upper hand, Manji has used JD(U) channels to
return to the alliance. The JD(U) has given the HAM-S seven seats from its share
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10/14/2020 Jitan Ram Manjhi: The man of many U-turns looks to turn a corner | Elections News,The Indian Express
of 122. Manjhi himself is re-contesting from Imamganj, against two-time Bihar
Speaker and RJD candidate Uday Narayan Choudhary.
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Born in the small village of Mahkar in Khijrasarai of Gaya, Manjhi got into What will dec
politics early, with his brother, who was in the Bihar Police, supporting him
financially. He became an MLA from the Congress in 1980 and a minister in 1985.
When the Congress’s fortunes declined with the rise of Lalu Prasad, he joined the
Janata Dal and later the RJD. In 2015, Manjhi became a minister in the Nitish
Kumar government, but remained unnoticed till the JD(U) supremo sprang that
surprise.
Despite their history, Nitish realises the need for the Dalit support Manjhi
represents. After Shyam Rajak left the JD(U) to return to the RJD, Nitish is left
with only a few Scheduled Caste leaders, such as JD(U) Bihar working president
Ashok Kumar Choudhary and Maheshwar Hajari. Even the NDA is left with few
Dalit leaders after the LJP walked out.
Manjhi personally too has come far from that small house in Mahkar. The
village’s sole two-storey pucca house belongs to him. His son Santosh Kumar
Suman is an MLC.
However, with that clout not translating into seats in elections so far, this may be
a battle for survival for Manjhi. Dalits, comprising 16% of Bihar voters, are
seeking a leader to unite them. The HAM-S is expected to wield the most
influence in Gaya, Jehanabad and some pockets of Purnia, Khagaria. Should
Manjhi win even three-four seats, he will continue to count.
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