The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staged a large protest outside Bihar Bhawan in New Delhi on Wednesday over the state chief's comments regarding the importance of girls' education in population control.
The protest was led by BJP’s Delhi unit president Virendra Sachdeva and participated by the party’s women wing along with thousands of BJP supporters.
The BJP, a former alliance partner of NItish Kumar’s Janata Dal United (JDU) party, strongly condemned his remarks. The party demanded Kumar's resignation while terming his remarks derogatory and offensive.
The Bihar unit of the BJP took to social media to express the outrage soon after a video clip of the State Chief’s address in the assembly went viral.
“In the political history of India, there has been no leader as indecent as Nitish Babu. Nitish Babu has a fixation with 'B-grade' adult films. Publicly, there should be a ban on his double entendres,” party’s Bihar unit wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Meanwhile, BJP spokesman Shehzad Poonawalla termed Kumar's remark as “anti-women".
“Comments made by Nitish Kumar are despicable, disgusting, atrocious, obnoxious, and women 'virodhi' (anti-women). It only shows the impact of (alliance partner) RJD' influence. He has become 'Bekabu Babu' (Mr. Uncontrollable) from once being 'Sushasan Babu (Mr. Good Governance),” Poonawalla said in a video statement shared with Sputnik India.
He further stated if these people could speak like that in the state legislature about ladies, what would be the plight of women in their Bihar state.
The BJP spokesman also targeted other opposition politicians, who are part of the newly-formed opposition bloc I.N.D.I.A.
He pointed out that instead of condemning Kumar's statement (the opposition bloc's leaders) Mamata Banerjee, Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Arvind Kejriwal and others were maintaining silence, showing they endorsed such comments.
Poonawalla also slammed Bihar Deputy State Chief Tejashwi Yadav, who defended Kumar by stating that the Bihar state chief was actually talking about sex-education and thus his comments “should not be misconstrued”.
Tejashwi Yadav has justified the statement and said it is sex-education. It shows the little education he has and the level this (JD-U and RJD) alliance has stooped to. This is common parlance in the entire I.N.D.I Alliance and therefore they are justifying it and not condemning it. If they indeed condemn it, they should tell what action should be taken,” the BJP spokesman said.
He also alleged that Kumar had lost the moral authority to continue as Bihar State Chief after insulting half of the population of the country. The BJP spokesperson stated if Kumar was left with any integrity, he must step down.
Meanwhile, BJP’s Delhi unit chief Virendra Sachdeva told his party workers during the protest that the Bihar state chief Nitish Kumar had insulted all women of the country.
“The kind of indecent language Nitish Kumar used in the Assembly is condemnable. It is an insult to democracy... Women are the strength of the country... Nitish Kumar should resign,” Sachdeva stressed.
On the occasion, BJP's women wing workers and others raised slogans against the Bihar State Chief and demanded his resignation.
Federal Women Panel Demands Apology from Kumar
As the video clip of Kumar’s remarks went viral, National Commission for Women (NCW) chief Rekha Sharma also took to social media and sought an apology from him.
“I demand an immediate and unequivocal apology from the Chief Minister of Bihar, Nitish Kumar. His crass remarks in the Vidhan Sabha are an affront to the dignity and respect that every woman deserves..," Sharma wrote on X while condemning the controversial remarks.
She described such "derogatory and cheap language" used in the speech as "a dark stain" on the society.
"...If a leader can make such comments so openly in a democracy, one can only imagine the horror the state must be enduring under his leadership,” her tweet added.
Nitish Kumar Apologises
As the row over his controversial remarks intensified, Nitish Kumar on Wednesday apologised over his comments.
"(My words) were not intended to hurt anybody. I have always maintained education is necessary for population control. I have also stood for women empowerment and women's development but if my words have hurt someone then I am taking them back,” Kumar stated while talking to the media in Patna.
On Tuesday, Bihar State Chief while speaking on the importance of education among women to control population in the state, described how a woman can restrain her husband during sexual intercourse.
"The husband's acts led to more births. However, with education, a woman knows how to restrain him...this is the reason the numbers (of births) are coming down," Kumar had said.