Bihar Dalit firebrand and disqualified CPI-ML (Liberation) MLA known for ‘Sadak Pe School’ campaign: Who is Manoj Manzil?

The CPI (ML) Liberation’s first-time MLA, Manoj Manzil, has lost his membership of the Bihar Legislative Assembly following his conviction in a murder case. He is one of the 12 CPI(ML) Liberation MLAs in the state.

The 40-year-old Dalit leader, Manzil was elected from the Agiaon constituency in the Bhojpur district in the 2020 Assembly polls.

A local court in Arrah recently sentenced Manzil to life imprisonment along with 22 others in a 2015 case of murder of one J P Singh. Manzil, who also faces 30 other cases, is expected to challenge the local court’s verdict in the Patna High Court.

The murder case which led to his disqualification as an MLA was linked to the campaign of the 2015 Assembly polls. At a public meeting of the CPI(ML) Liberation that was being held in Badgaon village near Azeembad then, party members were said to have learnt about the murder of a party worker Satish Yadav.

In retaliation, the CPI(ML) Liberation members were accused of killing a local upper caste Rajput resident J P Singh.

The CPI (ML) Liberation has called Manzil’s conviction “an act of judicial massacre and part of feudalistic conspiracy”.

“We are still not sure if the body was of JP Singh’s or not…The other cases against him are being pursued because of Manzil’s activism for the poor. They are politically motivated,” the CPI (ML) Liberation’s Bihar media in-charge Kumar Parvez said.

The party’s Bihar secretary Kunal said its workers are planning to visit every Bhojpur village between February 19 and February 25 to protest against the court verdict and demand justice for Manzil.

Over the years, Bhojpur has come to be associated with a range of socialist and farmer movements in Bihar.

Manzil too started out with student activism. He was associated