Overview
Jitan Ram Manjhi (born 6 October 1944) is an Indian politician serving as the 15th Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises since 2024. He is a Member of Parliament from the Gaya constituency and previously served as the 23rd Chief Minister of Bihar, holding the office from 20 May 2014 to 20 February 2015.
Manjhi has been a member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly since 1980. Over the course of his career, he has been associated with several political parties, including the Indian National Congress (1980–1990), Janata Dal (1990–1996), Rashtriya Janata Dal (1996–2005) and Janata Dal (United) (2005–2015). He has served as a minister in successive Bihar state governments under chief ministers including Chandrashekhar Singh, Bindeshwari Dubey, Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Jagannath Mishra, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi. He also served as Minister for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Welfare in Nitish Kumar's cabinet.
Following the February 2015 political developments in Bihar, Manjhi was expelled from the JD(U) and subsequently emerged as a prominent Dalit leader in the state. In May 2015, he announced the formation of a new political party, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), of which he became the founding President. In July 2015, he was accorded "Z"-plus security cover by the Union Home Ministry.
After the 2024 Lok Sabha election, Manjhi was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers as the Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, and is the oldest minister in the third term of the NDA government.
References
Adapted from the English Wikipedia article on Jitan Ram Manjhi.