In order to mobilize opinion in his favour after his ouster as the chief minister of Bihar in February, Jitan Ram Manjhi has chosen to go down the technology route, a Hindustan Times report says. Once known to not keep a phone, he now interacts with people on WhatsApp and Facebook via a smartphone.
The former head of the state, who failing to achieve trust vote in the assembly, resigned on February 20 and paved way for Nitish Kumar to return as chief minister. He now has a Facebook page ‘Jitan Ram Manjhi’ which has garnered 16365 likes already. Manjhi’s page is full of pictures of newspaper clips about his rallies and live snapshots from them.
Not only on Facebook, but the 70-year-old politician, who trends himself as the “pain of crores of Dalits,” is also interacting with his supporters on WhatsApp.
With Bihar assembly elections due this year, Manjhi, once a close aide of Janata Dal United’s Nitish Kumar and now his rival, has intensified his campaign after what he calls his “unfair ouster.” Floating his own political front Hindustan Awam Morcha (HAM) on February 28, the conventional politician Manjhi is another addition to the list of leaders mindful about social media image and presence.
“I was surprised as even though Manjhiji was often given mobile phones to speak to someone or the other during his chief ministerial tenure, never before had I seen him carry one,” said Nitish Mishra, a close associate of Manjhi, the report says.
Created on February 2, Manjhi’s Facebook page also carries a link to his official website, giving his online followers and supporters further gateway to read and get in touch with him.
“The likes for this page are quite some distance behind the more than 5.44 lakh likes for chief minister Nitish Kumar’s official Facebook page. But we are less than two months old and on our way,” said a member of the team that handles Manjhi’s social media interactions.