Nitish Kumar-led government is anti-Dalit: Manjhi

Patna: Former Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi on Thursday said the Nitish Kumar-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in the state was anti-Dalit as most of the people arrested under prohibition laws were from the community.

"Nitish Kumar ki sarkar Dalit virodhi hai, sharab bandi ke kanoon ke naam pe sabse jayada Dalit aaur garib logon ko hi giraftar kiya gaya hai (Nitish Kumar's government is anti-Dalit. In the name of justifying the liqour ban, majority of those arrested are Dalits and the poor)," Manjhi said at a public meeting in Punpun, about 20 km from here.

Manjhi said Dalits and the poor were being harassed and humiliated in the name of implementing prohibition laws.

Earlier, Manjhi said the government's prohibition policy had become a tool to persecute Dalits in the state.

Last December, Manjhi said Nitish Kumar's much-hyped prohibition policy in Bihar was a failure.

According to police records, over one lakh people have been arrested for violating the liquor ban imposed by the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on April 5, 2016.