Patna:Former Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi has alleged that the Bihar government is “shedding crocodile tears” on Dalit issue and said that the state has an abysmally low rate of conviction in cases lodged under the SC/ST Act.
Claiming that a number of steps aimed at the welfare of SCs and STs were taken during his brief tenure, Manjhi said the chief minister’s recent pro-Dalit stance was “aimed at deriving political mileage at a time when the Lok Sabha elections are just a few months away”.
“A total of 25,943 cases, lodged under the SC/ST Act, was pending in Bihar till 2017. Out of these, convictions were made in only 89, which is a mere 0.34%.
Kumar has been the chief minister for over a decade. The statistics speak volumes about his commitment towards the depressed classes”, Manjhi told reporters in Patna on Saturday.
Manjhi became the chief minister in 2014 when Kumar resigned owning responsibility for the debacle of the JD(U) in the Lok Sabha polls.
