Former Bihar minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has been appointed as a Union Minister in the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet. The news sparked controversy due to Manjhi’s previous statements, where he called Lord Ram a fictional character and hailed Ravana as being ‘greater than Ram’.
Pertinently, on Sunday June 9, Modi 3.0 government was sworn-in. Jitan Ram Manjhi, founder of the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), was Bihar’s chief minister between 2014-2015. He was the first chief minister from the state’s Musahar (Dalit) community.
Manjhi has now become India’s first Union minister from Musahar community. He had been a member of several political parties, including largest opposition party the Indian National Congress (INC), Janata Dal, Rashtriya Janata Dal, and JD(U).
In 2015, Manjhi left JD(U) and formed Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular), which has been an ally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Bihar.
Manjhi’s controversies
In the past, Manjhi had made headlines by making controversial statements about Hindu diety, Lord Ram, and Brahmins (Upper caste). In one of his statements he said, “Dalits have been treated like slaves by Hindu upper-caste, especially by the priest class who consider them as untouchables.”
In 2021, while addressing the media, the Dalit leader sparked outrage after using profanity against Brahmins, triggering anger among the powerful community, which consists of 5 percent of today’s Indian population, with one of its members announcing a reward of Rs 11 lakh rupees for chopping off his tongue.
In a viral video that surfaced on social media earlier, Manjhi accused the BJP of playing the ‘Hindutva card’ to make inroads into Dalit votes.
In 2022, BJP was infuriated by his provocative remark on a Hindu deity. At a function commemorating the the anniversary of BR Ambedkar, Manhi said that Lord Ram was a “mythical character not a god” and that Ravana was more well-versed in rituals than Ram.
“I want to say to the people. I don’t believe in Ram. Ram wasn’t a God. Tulsidas-Valmiki created this character to say what they had to,” he said.
Manjhi further said that the two saints created the ‘kavya’ and ‘mahakavya’ with the “character of Ram and the former chief minister has reverence to the saints but not Ram.”
“They created ‘kavya’ and ‘mahakavya’ with this character. It states a lot of good things and we revere that. I revere Tulsidas-Valmiki but not Ram,” Manjhi said.
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