Prem Kumar Mani (born 25 July 1953) is a writer, thinker and a political activist from

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

India. He is well-known for his writings, both fiction and non-fiction, meant for the upliftment of the lower strata of society. He also worked as a journalist in the past.

Early life

Mani was born to Valmiki Mani, a freedom fighter of Bihar. During the initial part of his life, he came in the contact of

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

monk Jagdish Kashyap and spent some time getting

baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...

Nalanda Nalanda (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: , ) was a renowned Buddhism, Buddhist ''mahavihara'' (great monastery) in medieval Magadha (Mahajanapada), Magadha (modern-day Bihar), eastern India. Widely considered to be am ...

Mahavihar, a notable Budhhist site. Later, he started his career as a journalist with his first work as ''Manusmriti, ek pratikriya''. Mani is married to Mamta Mani and is a father of three children.

Writer

Prem Kumar Mani started writing short stories from 1977. His four short story collections are ''Andhere Me Akele'' (1990), ''Ghas Ke Gehne'' (1993), ''Khos Thatha Anya Kahaniyan'' (2000), and ''Upsanhar'' (2000). He also wrote a novel titled ''Dhalan'' in 2000.

Thinker

As a social and political thinker Mani has written more than 500 articles on contemporary issues with a deep sense of commitment to social justice. His writings have influenced the people at large in society. One of his articles titled ''Why this celebration of Death'' published in an online magazine named ''Countercurrents'' became a topic of intense debate in the Indian Parliament. He has compiled a work on the life and time of social reformer

Jyotiba Phule Jyotirao Phule (11 April 1827 – 28 November 1890), also known as Jyotiba Phule, was an Indian social activist, businessman, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra. His work extended to many fields, including eradication of u ...

Awards

Mani has been awarded with ''Srikant verma smriti puruskar'' for his essays as well as with ''Vishesh Sahitya Seva Samman'' (in 1993) by

Government of Bihar Bihar Government is the State governments of India, state government of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Bihar and its nine Divisions of Bihar, divisions which consist of Districts of Bihar, districts. It consists of an execut ...

. He received the first ''Satrachi Puraskar'' in 2021 for his writings dedicated to social justice by ''Satrachi Foundation''.

Political career

Mani was nominated to the Bihar legislative council as a member of

Janata Dal (United) Janata Dal (United) ("People's Party (United)"), abbreviated as JD(U), is a Social democracy, social-democratic and secular List of political parties in India, Indian political party, rooted mainly in East India, eastern and Northeast India, ...

in 2006 and was ousted from the party for anti-party activities in 2011. In the meantime, he was suspended from the Bihar legislative council by the sitting chairman. Mani however filed a suit challenging the council chairman's jurisdiction over his suspension order. Mani was ousted from the party following the complaint from JD (U) chief

whip A whip is a blunt weapon or implement used in a striking motion to create sound or pain. Whips can be used for flagellation against humans or animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain, or be used as an audible cue thro ...

on the charge of collusion with

Upendra Kushwaha Upendra Kumar Singh, commonly known as Upendra Kushwaha (born 6 February 1960) is an Indian politician, and a former Member of Bihar Legislative Council and Bihar Legislative Assembly. He has also served as Minister of State for Human Resources ...

, a rebel leader of JD (U) who assumed several high positions in the party. Following Mani's suspension the party suspended him along with other senior leaders such as Lalan Singh for criticising the policy of chief minister

Nitish Kumar Nitish Kumar (born 1 March 1951) is an Indian politician who has been serving as the 22nd chief minister of Bihar since 22 February 2015, having previously held the office from 2005 to 2014 and for a short period in 2000. He is Bihar's longest ...

. Mani was close to

since the formation of

Samata Party The Samata Party (SAP) is a political party in India, initially formed in 1994 by George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar, is now being led by Uday Mandal as its National President. Samata Party once launched Nitish Kumar as the Chief Minister of ...

and was among the policy formulators of the party until he was ousted in 2011. After joining Rashtriya Janata Dal he was elevated to the position of vice president of the party in 2021 as a part of RJD's Luv-Kush response to those of JD (U)'s. Mani resigned from all the offices of the

Rashtriya Janata Dal The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: National People's Party) is an Indian political party, mainly based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party's support base has traditionally been Other ...

(RJD) in 2022, accusing

Lalu Prasad Yadav Lalu Prasad (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician who served as the chief minister of Bihar from 1990 to 1997 with a brief interruption in 1995 and as the union minister for Railways from 2004 to 2009. He is the founder and president o ...

of weakening the organizational structure of the party on various occasions. Prior to his resignation, he was also the editor of the official mouthpiece of RJD.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mani, Prem Kumar Living people Members of the Bihar Legislative Council Rashtriya Janata Dal politicians 1953 births Janata Dal (United) politicians