Congress MP questions silence of Bihar leaders over attack on CJI
MP Tanuj Punia asks why Nitish Kumar, Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi are silent on the attack against a prominent Dalit face
Congress MP Tanuj Punia on Wednesday expressed bewilderment at the silence of Bihar leaders such as chief minister Nitish Kumar and Union ministers Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi — all regarded as influencers of Dalit votes — over the recent attempted attack on Chief Justice of India B.R. Gavai inside the Supreme Court.
During court proceedings on 6 October, a 71-year-old lawyer nearly hurled a shoe at CJI Gavai — the second Dalit to head the Indian judiciary — but was prevented by security personnel.
“The silence of Bihar leaders Nitish Kumar, Chirag Paswan and Jitan Ram Manjhi — known for banking on Dalit votes — on this matter is inexplicable,” Punia, a prominent Dalit face within the Congress party, told reporters in Patna. Both Manjhi, a former chief minister, and Paswan belong to the Dalit community, while Kumar is an OBC leader.
Punia, who represents Barabanki, asserted, “His (the CJI’s) disrespect exposes the deep-rooted casteist mindset of the BJP and RSS.”
The Congress MP claimed that the upcoming electoral contest between the NDA and the Mahagathbandhan — which includes his party — would symbolically be fought between “the shoe and the pen”, the latter referring to Babasaheb Ambedkar, the revered Dalit icon.
Launching an attack on the NDA ahead of the state Assembly elections, Punia alleged that both the Central and Bihar governments have sidelined Dalits through discriminatory policies.
Quoting a National Sample Survey (NSS) report, he stated that 1.915 million Dalit families in Bihar depend on agriculture — nearly all small and marginal farmers — earning less than Rs 50 a day. “This is where the 20-year rule of the NDA has brought them,” he remarked.
Punia further claimed that Bihar ranks second in India, after Uttar Pradesh, in terms of atrocities committed against Dalits. He accused the NDA government of merely using Dalits as vote banks while neglecting their needs in policy-making and implementation.
Punia also criticised the Central government for “breaking the backbone of social justice” by pushing for the privatisation of Public Sector Units, a move he argued would lead to the loss of approximately 480,000 reserved posts.
He emphasised that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has consistently championed social justice for Dalits and oppressed communities in a genuine manner. “Gandhi believes in ‘holding the pen’ against ‘the shoe’,” Punia concluded.