"Jitan Ram Manjhi is a politician who serves as the Union Minister for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in the central government. Currently, he is a Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Gaya constituency. Manjhi previously served as the Minister for Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe Welfare and has been a member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly since 1980.

Manjhi was born on October 6, 1944, in Mahkar village, Khizersarai block, Gaya district, Bihar. After completing his graduation from Magadh University, he worked at the Gaya Telephone Exchange for 13 years.

Manjhi entered politics in 1980. He successfully contested and won the Fatehpur assembly constituency on a Congress party ticket. Shortly after losing the 1990 election, Manjhi switched to the Janata Dal. From 1996 to 2005, he held a ministerial position in the RJD state government in Bihar. In the 2010 Bihar elections, he was elected to the state assembly from Makhdumpur in the Jehanabad district.

After resigning from the Chief Minister's post in 2015, Manjhi split from his party and founded his own party, the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular). He subsequently joined the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)."