CM Nitish Kumar removes recruit’s hijab at Bihar govt event, oppn says he is ‘not in control’

The incident, a purported video clip of which has gone viral on social media, happened at ‘Samvad’, the CM’s secretariat, where appointment letters were being given to more than 1,000 AYUSH doctors.

The Opposition parties, including the RJD and the Congress, shared the purported video on their social media accounts and claimed that the incident was the latest proof of the JD(U) president’s “unstable mental health”.

ये बिहार के मुख्यमंत्री नीतीश कुमार हैं।

इनकी बेशर्मी देखिए- एक महिला डॉक्टर जब अपना नियुक्ति पत्र लेने आई तो नीतीश कुमार ने उनका हिजाब खींच लिया।

बिहार के सबसे बड़े पद पर बैठा हुआ आदमी सरेआम ऐसी नीच हरकत कर रहा है। सोचिए- राज्य में महिलाएं कितनी सुरक्षित होंगी?

नीतीश कुमार… pic.twitter.com/2AO6czZfAA

— Congress (@INCIndia) December 15, 2025

RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari told The Indian Express: “Such incidents show that CM Nitish Kumar is not in control. Attempting to remove the hijab of a woman is surely not in good taste. It is a sad reflection of the CM’s conduct.”

Defending the CM, JD(U) chief spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said, “One should look at the larger picture of what Nitish Kumar has done for women empowerment and minority welfare. A stray visual image should not be played up unnecessarily by the Opposition.”

According to the CMO, the appointees included 685 Ayurveda doctors, 393 Homeopaths and 205 practitioners of Unani system of medicine. Of them, 10 were handed over job letters by Kumar, while the rest received them online.

When the hijab-clad recruit went to collect her job letter, the 75-year-old CM looked at her and asked “what is this”? Kumar, who was standing on a raised platform, then bent a little and pulled her hijab down.

The flustered appointee was hastily pulled aside by an official standing near the stage, while Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary, who stood beside Kumar, was seen tugging at the latter’s sleeve, in an apparent bid to restrain him.

With PTI