Patna: The ruling Janata Dal (United) government in Bihar has ordered a high-level probe a day after Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi revealed a temple in his home state was cleaned and the idols of the Hindu deities installed washed shortly after he visited the shrine since the people still treat him as an “untouchable”.
Manjhi took charge of the state in May this year after his predecessor Nitish Kumar resigned.
The probe was ordered shortly after mines and geology minister Ramlakhan Ram Raman, whom the chief minister had quoted as a witness in the case, backed out of his “statement” and regretted the way his name was dragged in the case.
“Mr Raman told me twice over the matter but now he is denying. But let me tell you I have never told a lie in my entire life,” the Bihar chief minister told the media on Monday, adding he had ordered a high-level inquiry into the entire incident. According to him, the divisional commissioner and inspector general of police will inquire into the case to bring out the truth. Manjhi also quoted a former parliamentarian, Devendra Yadav, to prove this incident was true.
Manjhi is the third Dalit chief minister to assume office in Bihar. Prior to him, Bhola Paswan Shashtri and Ram Sundar Das were the chief minister of Bihar.
The development comes after Manjhi told a gathering in Patna on Sunday that despite his being the chief minister of Bihar he faced “untouchability”. To prove his point he cited how a Hindu temple was cleaned shortly after he visited it to offer prayers last month. Manjhi claimed to visited the temple located at Andhrathadi village in Madhubani district on August 18 in the course of his assembly by-poll campaign.
“My cabinet colleague Ramlakhan Ram Raman told me how the temple was cleaned and idols washed after I had left the place. This happens just because I was born in a Dalit family but what is my fault?” Manjhi said at a function in Patna organised on Sunday in memory of Bihar’s first Dalit chief minister Bhola Paswan Shashtri.
“When it comes to seeking personal favours, they fall at my feet but the fact is that they nurse such feelings. This is the world we live in,” he added.
But there was a twist to the tale when his cabinet colleague Raman denied having given any such information to the chief minister. “I never said anything like that to the chief minister. My name was unnecessarily dragged in the case. I don’t even know which temple the chief minister was referring to,” Raman told the media, forcing the chief minister to finally order an inquiry into the matter to bring out the truth.
Meanwhile, leaders across political lines have strongly condemned the incident and sought strong action against the accused if the incident is true. “Untouchability is a crime in the country. It cannot be allowed to take place even to ordinary citizens. What can be more shameful when a CM says that the temple was cleaned after his visit,” Federal minister in the Narendra Modi government and prominent Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan told the media today.
The Congress party too condemned the incident in the strongest possible words. “It’s shocking that such incidents are taking place even in the 21st century,” Bihar Congress president Ashok Kyumar Chaudhary said.
