Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday slammed the RJD for shouting at women opposition members inside the assembly.Kumar’s ire came after opposition members stood up in the well of the House and demanded that the state’s amended reservation laws be included in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution to make it immune from legal scrutiny.RJD women MLAs also raised slogans such as “Nitish Kumar murdabad” along with accusing the chief minister of being anti-reservation.The septuagenarian chief minister lost his cool. Waving his fingers at the MLAs, especially RJD’s Rekha Devi, Kumar shouted, “You are a woman. Do you realise that women in Bihar started getting their rights only after I took over? You are a woman, (yet) you don’t know anything. If you say ‘hai haai’ to me, it is ‘hai haai’ for everyone,” the angry CM said.
“It was at my behest that all of you agreed to the caste survey, following which quotas for SCs, STs, OBCs and extremely backward classes were increased,” Kumar said. He told the House that the state moved the Supreme Court after the Patna High Court struck down the reservation laws. “A formal request has also been made to the Centre to include these in the 9th Schedule,” Kumar said. The Bihar government urged the Centre to include the reservation for disadvantaged castes, raised from 50 to 65 per cent in state government jobs and educational institutions, in the 9th Schedule of the Constitution. The 9th Schedule contains a list of central and state laws that cannot be challenged in courts. In 1992, the Supreme Court had capped reservation for backward classes at 50 per cent. Outside the House, RJD members criticised the chief minister for his behaviour inside the House against women legislators. Leader of Opposition in the state Legislative Council Rabri Devi said, “This is not the first time something like this has happened with the CM. People know that he (CM) has no respect for women. Whatever he did in the Assembly today is an insult to women.
The former chief minister alleged that NDA leaders do not respect women. “Only RJD and India Block leaders respect women,” she claimed. Speaking to PTI, RJD MLA Rekha Devi said, “Whatever Nitish Kumar ji said in the Assembly today is an insult to a woman… We are here today because of our leader and party supremo Lalu Prasad and not Nitish Kumar. He has insulted a Dalit MLA in the House today. It seems he (CM) has no control over his mind.”
