Himalaya Harbinger, Rudrapur Bureau
In the Bihar Assembly session held on Wednesday, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar lost his cool at the opposition as the members continued to shout slogans against him. The opposition was demanding that the state’s amended reservation laws be put in the ninth schedule of the Constitution. They were also launching attacks at Kumar’s government for its “failures” on Bihar’s special status and reservation.
Even after Nitish Kumar’s intervention and explaination that the matter was listed before the Supreme Court after Patna High Court set it aside, the opposition, particularly RJD and Congress, did not budge and continued to raise slogans like ‘Nitish Kumar Hai Hai’ (Down with Nitish Kumar) against the Bihar CM.
Losing his cool, he vented his anger as he waived his fingers at an RJD MLA Rekha Devi asking, “You are a woman, don’t you know anything?”
Reacting to this, RJD MLA Rekha Devi said: “Not just me, he insulted every Dalit woman. I cannot believe the CM would say something like this.”
“He says anthing that comes to his mouth due to his age. In the last session also he said something to another woman MLA who ended up crying,” she added. “I am hurt and he should apologise to all the women for his behaviour.”
Last month, the Patna High Court had quashed the Bihar government’s move to increase the reservation cap in government jobs and educational institutions to 65 per cent.
JD (U)-led government had faced another setback earlier this week after the Centre said “no case was made out” to give special status to Bihar.
As the protests continued to mount during Nitish Kumar’s speech, he became agitated and launched into a tirade saying, “Arre mahila ho, kuch jaanti nahin ho? Arre bol rahi hai, kahan se aate? Yeh logo ne kabhi mahila ko aage badhaya tha? Bol rahi ho? Faltu. Isliye ham keh rahe hai, chup chaap suno. Arre kya hua? Sunoge nahin? Hum to sunayenge. Agar aap nahin suniyega, to aap logo ki galti hai.” (You are a woman, don’t you know anything? Look, she is talking. Have you [the opposition] done anything for women? We will talk and if you don’t listen, its your [the opposition’s] fault.)
Perturbed by the slogans being raised against him, he hit back saying, “sabka hai! hai!”
Following this, the opposition erupted and the slogan-shouting got even louder. But Kumar carried on with his speech and stressed that his government had done a lot for the disadvantaged sections of society
The Speaker, who was trying to run the Question Hour amid the ruckus said: “It seems the intent is not to allow this House to run. Even an explanation given by the chief minister on issues being raised by the opposition has been of no avail. Hence, the proceedings are adjourned till 2 PM.”
