The political storm around the Bharat Tiwari encounter in Bihar shows no signs of dying down, and Union minister and Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) patron Jitan Ram Manjhi has now waded into the row with a sharp, unambiguous stand. Manjhi said plainly that he has no sympathy for Bharat Tiwari and that the police action against him was entirely justified.
Manjhi backs Samrat Chaudhary's call for a judicial probe
Manjhi also praised the Bihar government's handling of the matter, saying Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary made the right call by ordering a judicial inquiry into the encounter. According to Manjhi, the government could easily have settled for forming an SIT or ordering a magisterial probe, but opting for a judicial inquiry was the fairest and most credible route available. He went on to thank Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary for the decision.
'I have no sympathy for Bharat Tiwari'
Pressing his point further, Manjhi said he feels no sympathy for Bharat Tiwari. He asked whether a case under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act had not already been registered against Tiwari, arguing that if such a case existed, it proves Tiwari had criminal tendencies. Manjhi also raised a pointed question: if Tiwari was mentally unstable, how did a revolver end up in his hands, and if the weapon was unlicensed, who allowed him to keep it?
Accused of pointing a revolver at police
The Union minister claimed that Bharat Tiwari had pointed a revolver at police personnel and was also trying to snatch the weapon back. In such circumstances, Manjhi argued, the police had no option but to act. He put it bluntly, "If someone points a revolver at me, I can't just sit around calmly. What the police did was completely right."
'If they wanted him dead, they'd have shot him in the head or chest'
Defending the police action further, Manjhi said that if the police had genuinely intended to kill Bharat Tiwari, they would have shot him in the head or the chest. Shooting him in the leg instead, he said, shows the police exercised restraint and acted strictly within the bounds of the law. Manjhi claimed that had Tiwari managed to grab the revolver again, someone could well have lost their life.
Dismisses claims that Tiwari was a Mahadalit leader
Manjhi reacted sharply to claims describing Bharat Tiwari as a leader of Mahadalits. Using a local idiom, he said not every bird chirping from behind the bushes deserves to be praised. He added that some people show off a small pot while making the bigger one disappear, meaning they do a bit of visible work for show while pursuing entirely different motives. According to Manjhi, doing a little work in the name of Scheduled Castes does not automatically make someone a genuine Mahadalit leader.
Questions comparisons to Bhagat Singh and Gandhi
Manjhi also objected to statements comparing Bharat Tiwari to figures like Bhagat Singh or Mahatma Gandhi, saying such comparisons do not change the underlying facts. He repeated an earlier question of his, asking why no such outrage was heard when two Paswan youths were killed in Rajgir.
'I will never go to Bharat Tiwari's house'
Manjhi ended by declaring in no uncertain terms that he will never step inside Bharat Tiwari's house, insisting that the police acted lawfully and justly throughout the episode and that Tiwari does not deserve his sympathy. His remarks make clear that the divide over the Bharat Tiwari case is only deepening within Bihar's political landscape, with the opposition continuing to question the police action even as leaders from NDA allies openly rally behind the police.
