Thousands of India's lowest "untouchable" caste celebrated the election of a ratcatcher as Bihar's chief minister on Tuesday amid hopes that their days as the country's most backward and marginalised minority might finally be coming to an end.
Jitan Ram Manjhi, 68, who was born into the blighted Musahar community and grew up catching and eating rats, was sworn in as chief minister in a ceremony that marked the most extraordinary rise of any politician in the history of India.
While Narendra Modi's rise to prime minister was aided by his origins as a tea boy and several Dalits have broken through the caste barriers to become powerful political figures – B. R Ambedkar, the revered author of the Indian constitution, and Mayawati, former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh – none of them can match the rise of Mr Manjhi.
His ratcatcher Musahar caste is the very lowest of India's 900 Dalit sub-castes who do the dirtiest jobs considered the most repellent to higher castes.
India's Dalits or 'untouchables' live below the four Hindu castes of Brahmin priests and teachers, Kshatriya warriors and rulers, Vaishya traders and Shudra servants, and have suffered routine violence and discrimination for centuries as a 'polluting' presence. Full story...
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Jitan Ram Manjhi, 68, who was born into the blighted Musahar community and grew up catching and eating rats, was sworn in as chief minister in a ceremony that marked the most extraordinary rise of any politician in the history of India.
While Narendra Modi's rise to prime minister was aided by his origins as a tea boy and several Dalits have broken through the caste barriers to become powerful political figures – B. R Ambedkar, the revered author of the Indian constitution, and Mayawati, former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh – none of them can match the rise of Mr Manjhi.
His ratcatcher Musahar caste is the very lowest of India's 900 Dalit sub-castes who do the dirtiest jobs considered the most repellent to higher castes.
India's Dalits or 'untouchables' live below the four Hindu castes of Brahmin priests and teachers, Kshatriya warriors and rulers, Vaishya traders and Shudra servants, and have suffered routine violence and discrimination for centuries as a 'polluting' presence. Full story...
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