Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi Sunday revealed that the risk of losing at least 50,000 votes from a "powerful caste" had once forced him not to protect the honour of a poor Dalit family.
"For the sake of vote bank politics in the 1990 assembly polls in Fatehpur constituency in Gaya district, I was helpless and unable to protect the honour of a Dalit family. I failed to provide them justice," Manjhi said at an official function on the occasion of National Press Day.
"I have narrated a true story of my life. I failed to help people from my own caste and provide them justice despite the fact that I was fully aware of the accused village headman, who belonged to the powerful backward caste Yadav," he said.
Manjhi said he did not take the risk of losing at least 50,000 votes if he acted against the accused.
"In my constituency, voters of the Yadav caste were the deciding factor and it was vote bank politics that stopped me from helping the victim," he said.