Not all the Mahadalits are ready to dance to the tune of the man who hoped to be their pied piper. Jitan Ram Manjhi, who projected himself as the tallest Mahadalit leader to descend on the caste-ridden political landscape of Bihar, may have to confront the bitter reality that hogging media limelight and connecting with voters are two things.
So, Manjhi (boatman in Hindi), is struggling to keep afloat his own vessel in the turbulent waters of his own Makhdumpur constituency due to sharp division in the Mahadlaits. A wily leader, Manjhi must have sensed the lurking danger in his backyard, so he opted to fight from another seat, Imamganj, in the adjoining Aurangabad district.
Makhdumpur presents a classic example of how sub-caste rivalries within the Mahadalit is playing out in the hamlets of the poorest of the poor. Manjhi, who belongs to the Mushar caste, is not acceptable as a leader among a large chunk of Ravidas (chamar), dhobis and others, who want to empower a leader of their caste. So given the choice, non-Mushar Mahadalits are unlikely to heed the calls of Manjhi.
In Makhdumpur, Manjhi is pitted against Subedar Das of the RJD. The divide is clear. Chamars are rallying around the RJD candidate, their own caste man, leaving Manjhi to seek solace in the company of his Mushar voters. Manjhi has gone around pleading with the Mahadalits to protect his honour as their voice, but it has cut little ice.
“Not single Ravidas voters will support Manjhi despite his pleas and persuasions. He is a leader of the Mushars and not of Mahadalits. We are going to support our own caste man,” said Mukesh Kumar Das, a first time voter of Jagpura panchayat in the interior of Makhdumpur.
Manjhi can also not be sure of attracting all the Paswan voters of the segment. Everyone knows that Ramvilas Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi are trying to undercut each other wherever it is possible. As the predominant Dalit caste, the Paswans are not able to digest the emergence of Manjhi as a challenge to their supreme leader. Under the circumstances, Manjhi cannot count on bulk support of the Paswans. With division in the Mahadalit votes and uncertainty about the extent of transfer of the Paswan votes, Manjhi is facing a difficult situation.
The caste break up of Makhdumpur is as follow: Yadavs 62,000, Bhumihars 40,000, Muslims 25,000, Rajputs 10,000, Paswan 15,000, Ravidas 17,000, Manjhi 20,000, Kurmi and Koeri 30,000. If the caste polarisation holds in Makdumpur, Manjhi will find it difficult save his seat.
In a way, Manjhi seems to have accepted that it is difficult to bring down the caste ghettos by projecting himself as a “martyr’ to the cause of Mahadalits. During his campaign across his constituency, he has stopped visiting the ‘bastis’ and hamlets of those who are on the other side of the caste divide.
“ He suspects us, treats us as enemy, and not even bothers to visit our mohallas. Why should we vote for himIJ” says Santosh Kumar, who belongs to the Dangi caste (OBC). But thanks to his alliance with the BJP, Manjhi can be assured of the support of the upper castes who were once the biggest tormentors of the Dalits. “We are not supporting Manjhi per se, but we are backing him because he is an ally of the BJP,” says Vijay Sharma , a Bhumihar agriculturist at Inderpore.
In the assembly segment, eighty kms from Patna, the standard of living is relatively better than many part of the central Bihar due to fertile land and electricity supply for irrigation. The roads are also excellent and one can drive to the remotes part of the constituency. Manjhi is trying to take the credit of all development work, but voters are now cleaver enough to know that Bihar has seen all around improvement in power and road sector.
Other than these, Manjhi has done precious little to win the hearts and minds of voters cutting across caste sand social divide. Makhdumpur is just a case in the point. The fragmentation of the Mahadallit voters and tilt of the Ravidas towards the “grand alliance is all too obvious. Jitanram Manjhi will certainly add to the NDA prospect by winning the voters of caste men, but he does not seem to be in a position to influence the entire lot of Mahadalits, a claim that he used to arm-twist the BJP to part with as many 21 seats.