Jitan Ram Manjhi sworn in as new chief minister of Bihar: A journey from clerk to CM

Patna: Once a clerk in Posts and Telegraph department, Jitan Ram Manjhi was on Tuesday sworn in as new chief minister of Bihar.

Governor D Y Patil who administered the oath to Manjhi and 17 ministers at a function at Raj Bhawan directed the new government to seek a trust vote on the floor of the House on May 23.

The new Cabinet comprised all ministers of the Nitish Kumar government.

Prime Minister-designate Narendra Modi greeted the JD(U) leader and assured support in development of the state.

"Congratulations to Shri Jitan Ram Manjhi on taking over as Bihar Chief Minister....I wish him the very best and assure support in development of Bihar," Modi tweeted minutes after Manjhi took over as Chief Minister.

Congratulations to Shri Jitan Ram Manjhi on taking over as Bihar CM. I wish him the very best & assure our support in development of Bihar.

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 20, 2014

BJP president Rajnath Singh and the senior party leader Sushil Kumar Modi also congratulated Manjhi. Nitish Kumar had resigned from the chief ministership two days ago taking moral responsibility for the JD(U)'s poor performance in the Lok Sabha elections winning a meagre two seats as against 20 it had won five years ago.

Manjhi, a 'mahadalit' who was picked by Nitish Kumar to lead Bihar, is an old hand in the state's politics with stints as minister in Congress, RJD and JD(U) governments since 1980.

Manjhi, a six-time MLA who was elected from Makhdumpur reserved constituency in Jehanabad district, was minister for SC & ST Welfare in the outgoing Nitish Kumar government.

Known for maintaining low profile, Manjhi had been instrumental in Kumar's reaching out to 'mahadalits'.

Kumar had created this subsection within dalits minus the Paswan caste of LJP president Ramvilas Paswan to tap the support from this numerically strong section. Manjhi's own caste 'Mushar' was recently designated as 'mahadalit' by the state government.

Manjhi is credited with popularising radio among the 'mahadalits' so that they could be made aware of government programmes for weaker sections.

Born on October 6, 1944 at Mahkar village in Gaya district, Manjhi's father Ramjit Ram was an agricultural labourer. Manjhi himself was put to work in the fields by landlords during his childhood days.

But as a child he had a passion for education. With encouragement provided by his father and a tutor hired for a rich landlord children, Manjhi completed studies till class 7 without attending school.

He then took admission in a high school and went on to graduate in history from Gaya College in 1967. During his student days he was active CPI member.

Manjhi took up the job of clerk with Posts and Telegraph department in 1968 but quit it in 1980 to join Congress.

That year he won on Congress ticket from Fatehpur (reserved) Assembly constituency and became a deputy minister of welfare in 1983 in the government of Chandra Shekhar Singh.

He was also member of Congress government of Bindeswari Dubey. Manjhi faced two successive defeats from Fatehpur between 1990 and 1995 Assembly elections.

He earned the distinction of being elected from three other Assembly constituencies - Barachatti, Bodh Gaya and Makhdumpur in successive elections and worked as a minister in the Cabinets of Rabri Devi of RJD and Nitish Kumar of JD (U).

He also unsuccessfully contested parliamentary elections from Gaya in 1991 and again this year in which he finished third as a JD(U) nominee behind winner BJP's Hari Manjhi and RJD's Ramji Manjhi.

He joined JD(U) in 2005 after taking oath as minister in the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in Bihar that year, he was dropped unceremoniously within hours for his alleged involvement in a merit scam case. He was later exonerated of the charges and re-inducted into the ministry.

Manjhi's humble background is evident from his affidavit filed while contesting the Lok Sabha 2014 elections. His total movable and immovable assets amount to only Rs 2.83 lakh including Rs 50,000 cash in hand.

Manjhi has interest in farming and tending plants. His wife Shanti Devi stays at their Gaya residence. The couple have two sons and five daughters.