Former Rajya Sabha member and founder of the All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaj (AIPMM) president Ali Anwar Ansari and “Mountain Man” Dashrath Manjhi’s son Bhagirath Manjhi joined the Congress in Delhi on Tuesday.
Their induction is expected to strengthen the Congress among the minority and the Dalit communities in Bihar ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled to be held later this year.
All India Congress Committee’s media and publicity department chairman Pawan Khera and Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee president Akhilesh Prasad Singh welcomed them at a programme organised at the party headquarters in Delhi.
Speaking on the occasion, Anwar, who was a member of the Upper House from 2006 to 2017, recalled his past meetings with Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, and stressed that their thoughts influenced him to join the Grand Old Party.
He said: “Rahul Gandhi’s inspiring speech earlier this month (January 18) at a conference on “protecting the Indian Constitution” in Patna has not only triggered hope among the Dalits, backward castes, and the people belonging to the minority community, but has also struck fear among the BJP, the JDU and their allies.”
Anwar pointed out that the word “pasmanda” was a religion-neutral word which meant “those who have been left behind”.
Bhagirath’s presence is going to be a shot in arm for the Congress when it comes to Mahadalit voters, especially those belonging to the Musahar caste in Bihar.
Bhagirath’s father Dashrath Manjhi (1934-2007) chiseled a 110-metre-long, 9.1-metre-wide and 7.6-metre-deep path through a hillock, thereby shortening the travel distance from his village Gehlaur to Gaya town from around 55km to 15km.
Dashrath’s wife Falguni Devi had slipped and fell on the hillock. She could not be taken to hospital in time due to the long route and succumbed to her injuries. He worked 22 years between 1960 and 1982, to achieve the feat of carving a path through the hillock, and came to be known as the “Mountain Man”.
Besides Ansari and Manjhi, Bihar kumhar caste association Manoj Prajapati, heart surgeon Jagdish Prasad, author Frank Huzur, former BJP spokesperson Nikhat Abbas, and former AAP spokesperson Nishant Anand also joined the Congress on Tuesday.