Bihar: JD(U) Receives Shot In The Arm As 'Mountain Man' Dasharath Manjhi's Son Joins Party

On Friday, Manjhi's son Bhagirath and son-in-law Mithun joined the party.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.

Source : PTI

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) claimed to recieve a shot in the arm on Friday with the admission of two close family members of famed stone-cutter Dasharath Manjhi, whose accomplishment earned him the moniker "mountain man," news agency PTI reported.  In the presence of key figures such as JD(U) state president Umesh Singh Kushwaha, Rajya Sabha member Vashishth Narayan Singh, and ministers Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, Ashok Chaudhary, and Sanjay Kumar Jha, Manjhi's son Bhagirath and son-in-law Mithun joined the party.

Ratnesh Sada, the party's MLA, was also there, having been sworn in earlier in the day as a substitute for Santosh Suman, who resigned as minister earlier this week.

Suman, who heads the Hindustani Awam Morcha, which was formed by his father, former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, had quit, citing JD(U) pressure to combine his party.

The entrance of Dasharath Manjhi's family members is considered as a move by the JD(U) to blunt Jitan Ram Manjhi's attempts to play the victim card, as both belong to the Musahar caste and have origins in Gaya district.

Unsurprisingly, JD(U) politicians in attendance seized the occasion to condemn Jitan Manjhi, accusing him of "ungratefulness" towards Nitish Kumar.

Dasharath Manjhi, who died in 2007, a year after the state government recommended his name for a Padma Shri, is remembered for working for 22 years with only a hammer and a chisel to flatten a hill and carve a pathway that cut the distance between two administrative blocks in Gaya by nearly 40 kilometres.

Despite struggling to make ends meet during his existence, Manjhi was accorded a state burial following his death.

Manjhi's superhuman effort came after his wife died from injuries incurred while ascending the hill to carry lunch for her husband.

In 2015, Nawazuddin Siddiqui starred in the movie "Manjhi - The Mountain Man," and a commemorative stamp was created.