Patna: The state legislative council saw a tense exchange on Friday when a discussion on women’s education snowballed into a verbal spat between CM Nitish Kumar and three opposition women members. The episode, occurring just a day before International Women’s Day, sparked reactions from various quarters. RJD MLC Urmila Thakur raised concerns about women education in her district, highlighting the difficulties girls face in continuing their studies due to the distance of high schools from villages. Expressing dissatisfaction with the response of education minister Sunil Kumar, she demanded concrete steps to improve access to education. Citing the situation in her Begusarai district, she said many girls were “deprived of education as reaching the nearest school requires them to walk some four to five kilometres.” Her remarks prompted a response from the CM, who, while seated, said, “Do you people know what our govt has done for girls’ education? Village girls hardly went to school until we came to power.” Thakur then rose from her seat, saying she was merely requesting a high school and that the CM appeared to be getting angry. RJD MLC Munni Devi Rajak joined in and said, “We have the right to ask questions from the govt and it is your job to answer them.” The CM, visibly irritated, stood up and insisted that the opposition members had no understanding of his govt’s work for women. He then turned towards former CM Rabri Devi and criticised the past functioning of the RJD govt. “Iske husband dub gaye toh apne wife ko bana diya (When her husband {Lalu Prasad} was compelled to quit, he installed his wife as CM),” Nitish said, pointing towards Rabri Devi, who remained silent. The CM added, “Whatever has been done for women, it has been done by our govt. Now, women have no problems.” His remarks led to strong protests from opposition members and order in the House was restored only after the intervention of chairman Awadhesh Narain Singh. Earlier in the week, Nitish had also expressed frustration in the Bihar assembly, telling leader of opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, “It was me who made your father the CM.” Reacting to Nitish’s comments, Tejashwi told reporters on Friday, “Nitish should remember that Rabri Devi was the first woman CM of Bihar… There is nothing much to comment on him. His deteriorating health signals that he is no longer able to run Bihar. The language which he used for Rabri Devi is not good.”
