PATNA: Fifty three year old Anil Sharma, a native of Jehanabad district, chopped off his finger on Friday to express his happiness on Nitish Kumar becoming Chief Minister of Bihar for the fifth time. Earlier in 2005 and 2010, Sharma had slashed his two left side fingers and offered them to a village deity.

Sharma, a resident of Oina village under Ghoshi police station under Modanganj block in Jehanabad district, barely 53 km from Patna, had come to meet the CM Nitish Kumar with bandaged finger on Sunday. He was seen waiting outside the CM residence to congratulate him.

“ I could not meet him because there was a large queue of visitors outside the gate. So finally, I had to return without meeting him,” Sharma told TOI. “On November 20, around 2.34 pm I chopped off my left little finger with my sickle. The portion of chopped finger has been immersed in river Ganga after offering the same to the deity at my village,” Sharma told TOI over phone.

Till date he has slashed his three fingers. When asked why did he slash only three since this is the fifth time Nitish has taken oath as CM. “ I did not chop off my two fingers deliberately during his two brief tenure as CM,” he said.

Sharma, a bachelor, is running a small dairy farm with three cows. He earns nearly Rs 20,000 a month from which he throws couple of feasts to poor and downtrodden section of the society. The remaining amount he saves for his livelihood.

“ I want to sell off one of my Jersey cows for organising a feast at the village to celebrate the grand victory of CM Nitish Kumar. I don’t have any liabilities. I don’t want anything. By the grace of God I have been managing my livelihood well,” he said.

When asked why he has been chopping off his fingers, Sharma said he has done so many social work for the poor and downtrodden. “I have been closely observing how women folk are getting their amount after delivery, scholarship amount to the poor and downtrodden, free school uniform and books to students etc,” he said. There are many such things which Nitish has been doing for the last one decade. “I wish him all the best for another five years. Unfortunately, I could not meet him today,” he said.