Bihar: Jitan Ram Manjhi threatens to give up cabinet berth, causes flutter
Patna (PTI): Union minister Jitan Ram Manjhi caused a flutter after he threatened to give up his cabinet berth, alleging that his Hindustani Awam Morcha was not getting a square deal in the NDA ahead of the Bihar assembly polls due later this year.
The former Bihar chief minister made the statement on Tuesday at a public meeting in Munger district, where he voiced anguish over his party not being taken into account by the BJP-led coalition in seat-sharing arrangements.
"We got nothing in Jharkhand and Delhi. It may be said that I did not make any demand. But is it justice? I was overlooked because I had no standing in these states. So we must prove our worth in Bihar,” Manjhi said.
Quoting a verse from the Ramayana which implies that often fear begets respect, the 80-year-old leader remarked "it seems I will have to resign from the cabinet".
The temperamental leader also added in the same breath "some may say I am fighting with the NDA. But, the leadership of Narendra Modi has been such that there is no question of a revolt. I am making a plea, not indulging in a confrontation".
Manjhi, who is the lone MP of his party that has four MLAs in the 243-strong assembly, also disclosed that he wanted "40 seats" for the Hindustani Awam Morcha in the Bihar assembly polls.
"If our party returns with a tally of even 20, we will be able to get our demands fulfilled," said the former CM, who insisted that he was not pursuing any personal ambitions but eyeing a better deal for ‘Bhuiyan-Musahar’, a Dalit community to which he belongs.
He also said that the Nitish Kumar government in the state, in which his son Santosh Suman is a minister, "has done many good things" but promises he made to the depressed classes during his less-than-a-year-long tenure as CM were yet to be fulfilled.
This is the second occasion, in the recent past, when Manjhi has made public his dissatisfaction with the NDA. On Sunday, he had said in Jehanabad that his party was "cheated" in Delhi and Jharkhand.
Sources in the NDA made light of the remarks of Manjhi, who had quit the coalition in 2018 and joined the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ helmed by the RJD, only to return a couple of years later.
The sources were also of the view that Manjhi's outbursts stemmed from a feeling that his cabinet colleague Chirag Paswan, another Dalit leader from Bihar who heads the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas), was stealing the limelight.
Meanwhile, RJD spokesperson Mrityunay Tiwari asked Manjhi to "give up the perks of power" if he seriously felt that Dalits should get a better deal than what the BJP was willing to give them.
"He should join the fight for social justice, which is being spearheaded by our leaders Lalu Prasad and Tejashwi Yadav. But, for this churning of which the BJP is always wary, Manjhi would never have been considered for a berth in the Union cabinet,” said Tiwari.
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CJI's advice to aspirant: Join the bar, become a lawyer, don't hanker for judicial services post
New Delhi (PTI): She came to the Supreme Court seeking a re-evaluation of her paper in the examination for joining judicial services as a magistrate. What she got instead was a rejection — and a candid confession by the Chief Justice that he too had wanted to join the judicial services in his youth but was advised by a senior judge to become a lawyer instead.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi on Friday dismissed a plea filed by Prerna Gupta, the judicial services aspirant.
As Gupta pressed her case, the CJI intervened and said, "Let me share my personal story and I hope you will go happily as we cannot allow your petition."
He recounted his time as a final-year law student in 1984 when he wanted to become a judicial officer. As per requirement, he cleared the written test and was set to appear for an interview.
Judicial services is one of the two routes to become a judge after initially joining as a magistrate in lower court and thereafter rising through the ranks to become judge in a high court and possibly the Supreme Court.
The other route is to join the Bar, which means becoming a lawyer, and after building a reputation be picked from the Bar to become a judge at a senior level.
By the time the CJI's exam results came out, he had started practising at the Punjab and Haryana High Court when he was called for the interview.
The senior-most judge on the interview panel happened to be a judge before whom he had recently argued two significant matters.
"One of the matters was Sunita Rani vs Baldev Raj, where he had allowed my appeal in a matrimonial case and set aside the decree of divorce granted by the District Judge on the ground of schizophrenia," he noted.
Before the interview could take place, the judge called the young Surya Kant to his chamber and asked, 'Do you want to become a judicial officer?'
"I said 'yes.' He immediately said, 'Get out from (my) the chamber.'"
The courtroom fell silent as the CJI Justice described his initial heartbreak.
“I came out trembling. All my dreams were shattered. I thought he had snubbed me and that my career was over,” the CJI said.
However, the story took another turn the following day and the judge summoned him again, this time offering a piece of advice that would change the trajectory of his life.
“He said, ‘If you want to become (a judge), you are welcome. But my advice is, don’t become a judicial officer. The Bar is waiting for you,’” Justice Surya Kant recalled.
The CJI said he decided to skip his interview and didn't even tell his parents at first, fearing their disappointment, and instead chose to dedicate himself to his practice as an advocate.
“Now tell me did I make a bad right or bad decision,” the CJI asked and the litigant lawyer left the court with a smile on her face despite her case being dismissed.
Encouraging the petitioner to look toward the future rather than dwelling on the re-evaluation of a single paper, Justice Surya Kant said, "The Bar has much to offer."
