Patna:
Former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, who was unceremoniously removed by his one-time mentor Nitish Kumar during a bitter power struggle in February this year, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his 7, Racecourse official residence in Delhi on Thursday amid speculations that he may align with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming state elections. The Dalit leader who heads the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) — the party he floated after his rift with Kumar — is also scheduled to meet top BJP leaders in the next few days.
The crucial meeting between the two leaders comes barely a day after BJP national president Amit Shah hinted the saffron party was open to an alliance with Manjhi. “At present talks are on. Our doors are open for new allies,” was how Shah told the media on Tuesday.
During his interactions with the prime minister, Manjhi was believed to have discussed the political situation in the state although he claimed he met over the issue of farmers. “The farmers are committing suicides in Bihar but the state government is not taking any notice of their problems. So I met the PM to bring this issue to his knowledge,” Manjhi told the media soon after meeting Modi.
The meeting also assumes much significance given the fact that the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad too had extended an open invitation to Manjhi to join his secular alliance, leading to fresh bitterness between him and Kumar.
Manjhi said there was no question of joining any alliance of which Kumar is a part. “Lalu Prasad had requested me to join his alliance through his emissary but I told him there will not be any compromise as long as Nitish Kumar is part of it. The way I was thrown out of power has inflamed the vast Dalit class,” he said.
The fight for power in the state has really turned interesting as just every party or alliance wants Manjhi with its side. The reason why they are eager to woo Manjhi is the fact that he represents the vast Dalit class, which alone accounts for some 23 per cent of the state’s population. It’s only too apparent that this community has potential to tilt the result in favour of the alliance with which Manjhi goes.
Dalits have their vast presence in some 60 assembly segments of the state’s total 243. Of them, 40 alone are reserved for them (Scheduled castes and Scheduled Tribes). Thus, Manjhi will be a big factor in the coming elections, observers say.
In the last 2010 assembly elections, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) headed by Kumar had created history, posting victory in 206 seats out of 243. Kumar’s Janata Dal-United (JD-U) alone had won 115 seats, whereas the BJP bagged 91 seats. The main reason why the NDA had made spectacular performance was the fact that it had the strong backing of the Dalit voters. Post split with Manjhi, the JD-U has obviously lost the goodwill of the politically-significant community and this is bound to harm its prospects.
Many also believe Manjhi’s populist policies when he was the chief minister, besides his sacking from the hot seat by JD-U, has generated some sympathy for him in his community.
It’s under this background that the BJP is now trying hard to get Manjhi on board in a bid to win the critical Bihar elections at all cost. After losing elections in Delhi, the party has got only too serious over the issue and is trying every option to prove “Delhi defeat” was just an “aberration”.
