Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday stirred up a row in the state assembly as he hit out at RJD MLA Rekha Devi over reservation laws. Waving his fingers at MLAs, especially at Rekha Devi, Kumar said it was only after he assumed power that women started getting their dues in Bihar.
"Arey mahila ho, kuch jaanti nahi ho? (You are a woman, still you do not know anything?)," Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said. He further slammed the Opposition, saying, “Did any of them promote women?...It was only after 2005 that women were promoted. You are speaking nonsense. That's why I am speaking, so listen.”
When Opposition started shouting and raising slogans, Nitish Kumar said, "What happened? Won't you listen? We will make you listen. And you won't listen, then it's your fault."
The Bihar chief minister said his government raised reservation from 50 per cent to 75 per cent – “and 10 per cent was done by the central government for the upper caste, which included all Hindus and Muslims”.
He said, “Today, these people don't know that we took information about the financial condition of the families [through the census].”
Nitish 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, news agency PTI reported.
Women legislators of the RJD were also in the well. They reportedly shouted slogans like “Nitish Kumar Hai Hai (down with Nitish Kumar)”, besides accusing the chief minister of being anti-reservation.
Speaking in the assembly on Wednesday, Nitish Kumar said that after the Patna High Court set aside the reservation laws, the state moved the Supreme Court. “A formal request has also been made to the Centre for including those in the 9th schedule," Kumar said.
The Bihar government urged the Centre to incorporate the increased reservation for deprived castes from 50 per cent to 65 per cent in state government jobs and educational institutions in the 9th schedule of the Constitution. This is excluding 10 per cent reservation already in place for the upper caste (Economic Weaker Section).
The 9th Schedule includes a list of Central and state laws that cannot be challenged in courts. In 1992, the Supreme Court capped reservations for the backward classes at 50 per cent.
Speaking with 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," Devi added.
RJD leader and former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav accused Nitish Kumar of being a habitual offender when it came to comments against women.
Yadav posted on X, "Making cheap, unwanted, uncivilized, rude and low-level comments on women has become a habit of Hon'ble Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. This is a very serious and worrying issue for the state."
(With inputs from PTI)
