The statue of socialist veteran Ram Manohar Lohia in Supaul district of Bihar was cleaned on Sunday after the former Chief Minister, Jitan Ram Manjhi, a Mahadalit garlanded it. One person has been arrested, and three others wanted by the police are at large.
Mr. Manjhi was going to Saharsa from Purnia to attend a political programme. He stopped at Lohia Chowk in Supaul and garlanded the statue. “On the basis of TV footage and an official report, an FIR has been filed against four members of an organisation called Lohia Vichar Manch,” district police chief Pankaj Kumar Raj told The Hindu .
Dukhi Lal Yadav, district chief of the Manch, told journalists in Supaul that since Mr. Manjhi was not a socialist and “he is using the socialist ideology for political gains, we got the statue cleaned.”
However, eyewitnesses told The Hindu that soon after Mr. Manjhi left the place, Manch members arrived and washed the statue after removing the garland. “It appeared a planned exercise because after cleaning the statue, they placed another garland on it,” said Jai Prakash, a resident of Lohia Chowk. Mr. Manjhi, who now heads the Hindustani Awam Morcha, said he might or might not be a socialist, “but every citizen has the right to pay homage to the country’s great leaders.” “Whatever has happened is a reflection of the perverted mindset, and needs to be condemned.”
Last year, a controversy erupted when Mr. Manjhi, then Chief Minister, alleged that a temple in Madhubani district was purified after he offered prayers there. After his mentor-turned-rival Nitish Kumar unseated him, Mr. Manjhi alleged that Mr. Nitish Kumar got Bihar Niwas in New Delhi cleaned as a Mahadalit had stayed there. He also said that even after becoming Chief Minister again, Mr. Nitish Kumar would not stay at 1, Anne Marg, the official residence of the Chief Minister, because it had been occupied by a Mahadalit. Mr. Kumar now lives at 7, Circular Road.
