Manjhi’s ‘sexist’ advice to Bihari migrants draws flak from his party

Barely 24 hours after his comments calling upper caste people “foreigners,” Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi courted yet another controversy on Thursday, asking youth of the State not to go outside Bihar leaving behind their wives at home.

“If you go and work outside Bihar, how would you know what your wife is doing in your absence?” asked the Chief Minister. Before making this statement, Mr. Manjhi told the audience that people and journalists might interpret his comments otherwise.

The recent controversial statement made by Mr. Manjhi created a stir among the political parties and their leaders.

“It’s a quite offending, condemnable statement and a direct attack on the character of women in general,” said State BJP leader Harendra Pandey.

The Congress leader Rashid Alvi in Delhi said: “Any kind of gender discrimination would be inappropriate for society.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the Bihar Chief Minister had invited all-round criticism from political parties for his controversial remark that “the upper caste people are foreigners and descendants of the Aryan race ... they have come here from foreign countries and only Dalits and tribal people are indigenous people.”

The Opposition BJP had accused the Bihar Chief Minister of “stoking caste tension” in the State with such a controversial statement.

Meanwhile, JD(U) MLA Anant Singh demanded Mr. Manjhi’s immediate resignation for his “uncalled for, unwarranted” statements which have been earning a bad name for the State every day.

Anant Singh, a two-time party MLA from the Mokama Assembly constituency, said: “Mr. Nitish Kumar should replace him as the Chief Minister.” Another JD (U) legislator Neeraj Kumar reacted that whatever the Bihar CM has said should be taken as “his personal opinion and the party has nothing to do with it.”

However, Mr. Manjhi appeared unapologetic about his remarks and retorted that if there was any confusion for anyone they should consult “historians” on whatever he had said.

“There was nothing against any upper caste but there is historical background to whatever I had said. If there is any confusion one should ask an historian,” he said.