How Bihar CM Manjhi has ensured he's no one's fool

Politics in India is replete with examples of the socalled “remote-controlled” governments, which are run by dummy candidates on behalf of top leaders. Once in power, such candidates have not found it easy to jettison their "rubber-stamp" image – in the course of their political careers – and have remained pliant towards their political bosses.

But Jitan Ram Manjhi, the current CM of Bihar, seems to be an exception to the rule. When he had taken over the reins of the Janata Dal (United) government in Bihar in May last year, a majority of political commentators had dismissed him as a “puppet” who would be “remote-controlled” by his predecessor Nitish Kumar. In fact, it was Nitish who had handpicked him after his resignation last year.

Manjhi, who had till then kept a low profile, was expected to run the government quietly until the next Assembly elections. But he proved his critics wrong in no time. Grabbing the opportunity with both hands, he has drawn on his vast political experience to leave his mark as a proactive CM.

From making attention-grabbing statements to repositioning himself as a new icon of the Mahadalits in the state, Manjhi carved out his own niche in Bihar where nobody — not even the leaders of his own party — had taken him seriously in the past. Though he always claimed to have followed the development roadmap drawn up by Nitish, he has made political capital out of each and every step his government takes.

Manjhi first chose to consolidate his position as a Mahadalit leader. He then started telling his community members that nobody could stop a Mahadalit from becoming the CM if they stayed united. He also emphasised the next CM would also come from the Mahadalit community in an apparent move to polarise community members in his favour. This stance did not endear him to many of the senior JD(U) leaders who had initially accepted him only as a stop-gap arrangement.

Manjhi’s most decisive moment, to assert his independent authority, came when he recently shifted some of Nitish’s trusted bureaucrats from key posts that they had been holding for years.

There is no denying the fact the JD(U) leadership is miffed with Manjhi both because of his words and actions. Much to the chagrin of the party, the Bihar CM had recently gone to the extent of welcoming the Patna High Court’s verdict to restore state Assembly membership to JD(U) rebels who had recently raised the banner of revolt against Nitish.

A seasoned politician, Manjhi has so far betrayed no emotion of an insecure leader despite uncertainties over his future. Like many political observers, he has probably realised that it is not an easy task for his party to get rid of him under the present political circumstances.

It is true that the party cannot do much about him at the moment for different reasons. Firstly, the JD(U) does not have a majority of its own in the state Assembly and is currently depending on both the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress for its survival. Both the RJD and the Congress would not like to antagonise the Mahadalit voters before the state polls, and hence they are not backing the JD(U)’s move to remove him from his post.

The JD(U) also risks a rebellion of sorts in the party by replacing him. Already, three senior ministers — Narendra Singh, Ramai Ram and Vrishin Patel — have cautioned the party against Manjhi’s ouster before the upcoming polls in the state.

Above all, the party has reasons to be wary of a split in the party after Manjhi’s exit. With 88 MLAs in the 243-member Bihar Assembly, the BJP may not mind backing the Manjhi group in the event of a vertical split within the party. This might be done to get even with Nitish, who had unceremoniously sacked 11 of the BJP’s state ministers in 2013.

The JD(U), in all cases, has to handle the Manjhi issue cautiously. With its merger with the RJD on the cards, it cannot take any decision on its own. It may, therefore, have to put up with Manjhi and let him carry on the way he wants to till its formal merger with the RJD. This will certainly not be bad for someone who was initially brushed aside as a “dummy” chief minister.