Patna,(BiharTimes): When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was asserting in the United States that India is no more a land of snake-charmers and black magicians Bihar chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi claimed on Sunday that the idol and the temple in Rajnagar block of Madhubani district was washed after he was taken there.

He said that he got this information later on by his cabinet colleague, Ram Lakhan Ram Raman, and went to ask “when will we awake if not now.”

He did not stop there, but went on to say that people, not Dalits, would come and touch his feet when they want to get some work done, but would behave in such a manner after inviting a Dalit to any temple.

The chief minister, fresh from his trip to England, was speaking on the birth anniversary of three-time Dalit chief minister of Bihar, Bhola Paswan Shashtri.

But the whole episode took a new turn when Raman, who was present on the occasion, denied that he had ever communicated any such thing to the chief minister. He said perhaps, the chief minister made a mix-up.

However, Raman added that such things do happen in the society and there is nothing new in it.

Similarly, his cabinet colleague, Nitish Mishra, who hails from the Mithilanchal region, too denied that any such thing had happened so did the Janata Dal (United) MLC, Vinod Singh.

The pujari of the temple and the local people said that the temple was washed but it had nothing to do with the visit of the chief minister. “It is a routine matter. The temple is washed at 4:00 in the morning and 4:00 in the evening everyday and it has nothing to do with the chief minister’s visit.

Local people, especially belonging to the upper castes, were upset over the chief minister’s remarks and some of them went to the extent of saying that Manjhi is politicizing the issue. So did some BJP leaders.

Meanwhile, the administrator of the Bihar State Religious Trust Board, Kishore Kunal, said that he had not received any such complaint