The National Commission for Women demanded an immediate apology from Nitish Kumar for his comment and called it an affront to the dignity of the women.
Patna: Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's comments on population control has left a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member of the Bihar Legislative Council, Nivedita Singh, in tears on Tuesday. Slamming the chief minister, the leader said he embarrassed the women of the entire nation.
"You all witnessed this in real time...people shouldn't see or hear such embarrassing videos for women. Such type of remarks made in the legislative assembly upsets us," she said.
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Singh further said women members of Nitish Kumar's party were too present in the assembly but don't know how they felt. "I lost all self-control and left the house. There were seven or eight additional female lawmakers. Perhaps they desired to listen to their leader; that is not anything I object to. However, I went away since I didn't have the strength to listen to such remarks," she said.
She also asked whether the state assembly was a place for imparting sex education. “Assembly is not the place to take sex education classes. The chief minister became very practical in his explanation. There was no context to what he said. We all sat there to listen to Nitish Kumar on the caste census which we supported. But he changed the entire scenario and no word of condemnation is enough for Nitish Kumar,” the MLC said.
While taking a jibe at deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav clarifying Kumar's statement as sex education, Singh questioned: "What happens behind closed doors, the entire world knows. Today's youngsters use mobile phones and YouTube...who doesn't know sex education? Who is he trying to teach?”
Sharing the video of Singh crying on X, Bihar BJP leader Shubham Raj Singh said that now it is difficult for women to attend legislative assembly or legislative council sessions because the chief minister has become a sex lecturer.
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What did Nitish Kumar say?
Nitish Kumar, while stressing the importance of education among women to control the population, put forward a description in the state assembly of how an educated 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...You, journalists also understand it well. Earlier it (fertility rate) was 4.3, but it has now reached 2.9. And, soon we will reach 2," Kumar explained.
However, Tejashwi Yadav said it is wrong to misinterpret Kumar's statement. "Let me clarify something. Whatever the chief minister was saying was about sex education. People become hesitant over this topic, but these are taught in schools -- in Science, Biology. Children learn this. He said what needs to be done practically to control the population. This should not be taken in a wrong manner, but as sex education," he said.
Women Commission seeks apology
The National Commission for Women demanded an immediate apology from Nitish Kumar for his comment and called it an affront to the dignity of the women. “NCW on behalf of every woman in this country demands an immediate and unequivocal apology from CM Nitish Kumar. His crass remarks in the Vidhan Sabha are an affront to the dignity and respect that every woman deserves. Such derogatory and cheap language used during his speech is a dark stain on our 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. We stand firm against such behaviour and call for accountability," it said in a statement.
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