Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar kicked off a fresh row on Wednesday by making a derogatory remark about a woman MLA during the noisy session in the Assembly that saw intense protests from Opposition members.
The incident occurred when opposition members, resentful over reservation and special status to Bihar issues, continued disrupting Kumar's attempts to speak. At one point, he lost his cool and berated RJD MLA Rekha Devi, saying, "You are a woman, you do not know anything."
The situation turned volatile as Opposition legislators from RJD, Congress and Left parties shouted slogans like "Nitish Kumar Hai Hai".
Earlier, when the Assembly started at 11 a.m. the Opposition launched their protest and insisted that the state's amended reservation Acts be included in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to protect them from judicial scrutiny.
The protests, however, did not abate and Kumar's efforts to reason with them were of little avail. He asked the Opposition to halt their protest and then listen to what the government had to say, but, of course, once the government's stand gets known to them, they might see things differently.
However, the Opposition continued with their slogans against the government, especially against the Chief Minister, shouting, "Chief Minister Hai Hai." Kumar first retorted back and said, "You are saying Hai Hai to me, then Hai Hai to you too," which brought some smiles to the Assembly for sometime. However, the Opposition was unrelenting and proceeded to the well of the House, continuing their protest with chants of special state status and demanding that the 65 percent reservation policy be restored.
He turned angry at the opposition's disturbance and ordered the removal of Congress MLA Munna Tiwari. This resulted in a fight between the marshal and Tiwari. The marshal, on the directive of the Speaker, snatched a poster from Tiwari's hands.
Following the ruckus created, Speaker Yadav adjourned the House till 2 p.m.
Later, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Chaudhary lambasted the Opposition for its baseless disruption over the reservation issue. He argued that the government has challenged the Patna High Court decision in the Supreme Court, thereby firmly standing by the defense of reservation policy. Chaudhary suggested the opposition's actions were counter-productive and disrupted the process of legislation without giving any constructive solution.
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