Amid the ongoing Assembly session, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar came down heavily on Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) leader Jitan Ram Manjhi on Thursday. Kumar lost his cool over the former Chief Minister during discussion during the discussion on the Reservation Amendment Bill.
Speaking in the Assembly, Kumar said that Manjhi had got the chance to become the Chief Minister of the state due to his stupidity. The fiasco happened when Manjhi was delivering his address on the bill. During the discussion on the bill, the former CM said that he does not trust the caste census done in Bihar.
What Manjhi said?
It has been claimed that reservation will be reviewed every 10 years, but has the Bihar government reviewed the reservation? By now there should have been 16 per cent reservation but till now it is only 3 per cent. It is good to increase the reservation, but what is there on the ground?" Manjhi asked.
Nitish Kumar loses his cool?
Manjhi's speech did not go well with the Bihar Chief Minister and he lost his cool. "He (Manjhi) became the Chief Minister because of my stupidity...Does he have any knowledge? He wants to become the Governor now...Earlier too he used to run behind you (BJP), please make him the Governor...," Kumar stated in very harsh words.
Manjhi attacks Bihar CM
Speaking to reporters, Manjhi said that there are flaws in the caste census as no one went on the ground. He further said that Nitish Kumar has weaknesses in his mind due to which he is saying like this. "He (Nitish) should keep in mind that he became MLA for the first time in 1985 whereas I became MLA in 1980. The Chief Minister is 74- year-old while I am 80. Actually, the CM has lost his mental balance," Manjhi alleged.
Not only this, Manjhi also expressed his views on social media platform X. "Nitish Kumar, if you think that you made me the Chief Minister, it is your misconception. When JDU MLAs started kicking, you left your chair and ran away out of fear. To hide your powerlessness, you can attack only a Dalit. If you have the courage, show it by speaking against Lalan Singh who has launched an operation against you," read the roughly translated post of Manjhi on 'X'.
Bihar Reservation Amendment Bill
Earlier on Thursday, the Reservation Amendment Bill was passed unanimously by the Bihar Assembly. The Bihar Cabinet had passed a proposal to raise the quota for SCs, STs, Other Backward Classes, Extremely Backward Classes, and Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) to a total of 75 per cent from the existing 50 per cent.
Based on the survey findings, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had recommended a hike in the reservation of OBCs and EBS to a combined 43 per cent from 30 per cent, 20 per cent for Scheduled Castes (SCs) from 16 per cent and 2 per cent for Scheduled Tribes (STs) from 1 per cent.
The quota for EWS will remain at the existing 10 per cent. The Caste Survey report revealed that OBCs (27.13 per cent) and the extremely backward classes sub-group (36 per cent) account for a whopping 63 per cent of the state’s total of 13.07 crore, while SCs and STs together were slightly over 21 per cent.
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