Jitan Ram Manjhi

For saying he finds nothing objectionable in Maoists extorting money

Ever since he was handpicked by Nitish Kumar to become the Chief Minister of Bihar, Jitan Ram Manjhi has been doling out a spree of loose statements, despite these generating a lot of bad press and criticism, even from members of his own government. He once called all ‘upper caste’ Hindus “foreigners”, while in another instance exhorted all members of Scheduled Castes to marry outside their caste so that they could increase their population and hence their political strength. He once threatened to chop off the hands of doctors if there was any negligence in the treatment of the poor. He has now come out with another shocker. He told a group of reporters recently that he doesn’t find anything wrong with Maoists extorting money from building contractors.

“Contractors, in a nexus with engineers, deliberately give a higher cost of a project besides doing a low quality job. I don’t see anything wrong in Maoists taking Rs 1 lakh from contractors, who are still left with a profit of about Rs 6 lakh,” he was quoted as telling reporters. Coming from the head of the state administration, that too in a year when the state will go to polls, it speaks of an astounding lack of appreciation of Indian political conventions.

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