Jitan Ram Manjhi

Patna, Nov. 14: Jitan Ram Manjhi faces serious threat in continuing as chief minister, as the JDU central leadership has taken strong exception to his description of upper castes as “foreigners”. Party MLAs are already gunning for his scalp.

JDU national president Sharad Yadav called up Manjhi and admonished him. “You are there to carry forward the work done by Nitish Kumar. As the chief minister, you are not there to issue statements that widen the social rift. You are not an expert to interpret the history of races and mankind. Your statements are hurting the JDU’s cause and arming the BJP to attack us. You are in for a serious action against you,” said Sharad.

Confirming Sharad’s strong words to Manjhi, party general secretary and aide to Sharad K.C. Tyagi told The Telegraph: “The JDU chief (Sharad) is very upset at the manner the Bihar CM is behaving of late. He (Manjhi), by transgressing his limits, has been inviting action against him.” Asked about the specific action the party might take against Manjhi, Tyagi said: “It is premature to tell the nature of action the party will formulate against him. But the party will not take Manjhi’s repeated utterances creating unseemly controversy and giving the BJP a handle to beat us lying down.”

A day ahead of Nitish Kumar embarking on his Sampark Yatra (contact march) from Bettiah, Manjhi had stated at Valmikinagar (in West Champaran) that the upper castes were descendants of the Aryans, as such foreigners, while the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe members were the original settlers.

Addressing a public meeting in a Gopalganj village, Manjhi issued another controversial statement: “Everyone knows what women do when their husbands stay outside the state for years after marriage.” In a way, Manjhi questioned the morality of the women, drawing indignation from within the party and outside. “Manjhi’s remarks amounted to fuelling social tension. Nitishji has always tried to restore social harmony, which Manjhi has been spoiling. It is high time the party called an emergency meeting to change the head of government,” said Sunil Pandey, the party MLA from Terari.

Barbigha MLA Gajanand Shahi, alias Munna Shahi, too said Manjhi’s statements had tarnished the party’s image.

The JDU leadership is also embarrassed that Manjhi was hardly known for breaking into any sort of controversy in over three decades of his legislative career prior to becoming chief minister. He always maintained a very low profile. Some insiders believe that Manjhi had got some “unscrupulous” advisers goading him constantly to emerge a leader of his community by training guns on the upper castes.

Court cases

Two sets of complaint cases were lodged against the chief minister for his remarks describing upper castes as “foreigners” and Dalits and tribals as “aborigines” of the country. While Bettiah resident Sanjay Mishra lodged the case against Manjhi with the chief judicial magistrate of Bettiah lower court, a Congress leader, Vijay Mishra, did the same in the civil court at Rosera in Samastipur district.