Amid ruckus in the Bihar Assembly, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday drew flak from the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) for shouting at opposition women members inside the assembly.

Kumar’s outburst came as opposition members stood in the Well of the House, demanding that the state’s amended reservation laws be incorporated in the 9th schedule of the Constitution to make it immune from legal scrutiny, PTI reported.

Amid loud protests, venting his anger at an RJD MLA, Nitish Kumar asked, “You are a woman, don’t you know anything?”

Waving his fingers at the legislators, especially at Rekha Devi of RJD, Kumar shouted, “You are a woman. Do you realise that it was only after I assumed power that women started getting their dues in Bihar? You are a woman, (still) don’t you know anything? If you say Haye Haye to me, then it’s Haye Haye for all.”

“It was at my instance that you all agreed to a caste survey after which quotas for SC, ST, OBCs and the extremely backward classes were hiked,” said a furious Kumar.

Women legislators of the RJD were in the Well shouting slogans like “Nitish Kumar Haye Haye (down with Nitish Kumar)”, besides accusing the chief minister of being anti-reservation. The septuagenarian chief minister lost his cool.

During this Assembly session, Nitish Kumar has found his government under attack from opposition MLAs, particularly from the RJD and the Congress, with whom he was in an alliance until the beginning of this year. The opposition parties slammed Kumar for his government’s “failures” on reservation and special status for Bihar.

As the opposition erupted and the slogan-shouting got louder, Nitish Kumar carried on with his speech, insisting that his government has done a lot for the disadvantaged sections of society.

The remark prompted a strong response from senior RJD leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, who accused Kumar of being a habitual offender when it came to comments against women.

Tejashwi Yadav posted in Hindi on X, “‘You are a woman, do you know anything?’ Making cheap, unwanted, uncivilised, rude and low-level comments against women has become a habit of Honourable Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. This is a very serious and worrying issue for the state.”

Outside the house, RJD members slammed the chief minister for his behaviour inside the House against woman legislators.

Leader of the opposition in the state legislative council, Rabri Devi, said,
“This has not happened for the first time with the CM. People know that he (CM) has no respect for women. Whatever he has done today in the assembly, is a sheer insult to women. Leaders of the NDA do not respect women.”

“Only RJD and INDIA block leaders have respect for women,” she claimed.

Talking to PTI, RJD MLA Rekha Devi said, “Whatever Nitish Kumar ji said today in the assembly is insulting to a woman… We are here today because of our leader and party supremo Lalu Prasad and not because of Nitish Kumar. He has insulted a Dalit legislator today in the house. It seems that he (CM) has no control over his mind.”

(With inputs from PTI)