Months before polls, Nitish govt appointed Chirag Paswan’s brother-in-law Mrinal Paswan as chairperson of Scheduled Caste Commission, and Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son-in-law as chairperson.
New Delhi: The Nitish Kumar government’s decision to appoint the relatives of Union ministers Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi to top posts in the Bihar Scheduled Caste Commission months before elections has fuelled debate around “dynastic politics” in parties led by Dalit leaders in the state.
Chirag Paswan’s brother-in-law Mrinal Paswan has been appointed chairperson of the commission, while Jitan Ram Manjhi’s son-in-law Devendra Manjhi has been made its vice chairperson.
Opposition RJD criticised the appointments, saying these were made with an eye on the assembly elections due later this year.
Former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi’s family now has seven members in politics, competing with the Lalu Prasad Yadav family’s dominance in the state.
Manjhi, who comes from the Mahadalit musahar community, contested the Lok Sabha polls from the Gaya seat in 1991, 2014, 2019 and 2024. He won only the 2024 polls. He is currently the oldest minister in the Modi cabinet, holding charge of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Ministry.
The Manjhi family
Manjhi’s son Santosh Kumar Suman is the national president of their party Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM). He is a minister in the Nitish cabinet, holding the Minor Water Resources portfolio. He was a minister in Nitish Kumar’s 2020 cabinet too when he held the Minor Irrigation and SC/ST Welfare portfolios.
Suman’s wife Deepa Manjhi won the byelection from Imamganj assembly constituency in November 2024 as Jitan Ram Manjhi vacated the seat after his election to Lok Sabha.
Deepa Manjhi’s mother Jyoti Devi is also an MLA from the party. She represents the Barachatti assembly constituency.
Devendra Manjhi, who has been made the vice-chairperson of the SC Commission, has been HAM general secretary and unsuccessfully contested the assembly election in 2020 from Makhdumpur.
Jitan Ram Manjhi has two sons and five daughters. His younger son Pravin Suman is also in politics. Manjhi’s elder daughter Sunaina has contested a deputy mayoral election in 2022.
Devendra Manjhi first came in news in 2014 when Jitan Ram Manjhi, as the chief minister of Bihar, appointed him as his personal assistant, and another relative, Satendra Kumar, a clerk.
The BJP, then in the opposition, criticised Manjhi, citing a general administration department’s order of 23 May 2000 that no minister can appoint a relative as PA. Manji defended the appointment, saying Devendra has been his PA since 2006. But as the controversy erupted, Devendra resigned.
When ThePrint spoke to him after his appointment at the SC Commission, Devendra Manjhi said, “When a doctor’s son becomes a doctor, nobody asks questions.”
He said he is an engineer and has been working among people for the last 25 years, despite being the son-in-law of an MP and former chief minister. “Today, after spending so much time among people, I have been appointed as vice-chairperson to work among Dalits. What is wrong with it?”
He said the HAM fought the 2015 elections in alliance with the RJD and the JD(U), and the party was given 21 seats to contest. “But I did not get the ticket then and contested as an Independent. Nobody asked why Manjhi’s son-in-law did not get a ticket. My appointment is not dynastic politics.”
Courtesy : Shanker Arnimesh, The Print
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