‘Did women even wear clothes before then’: Rabri’s jibe at Nitish on ‘post-2005 achievements’

Speaking before the legislative council Wednesday, Nitish repeated his claims that the state saw significant progress only since he took over as CM in 2005. “(Before that) people had to walk to the nearest towns from their villages. People also did not venture out after evenings,” he said,

At this, Rabri Devi, the former chief minister of the state and the current leader of Opposition in Legislative Council, interrupted to say: “He (Nitish) is saying the same thing over and over again. Today, let me ask both Nitish Kumar and the central government if women wore clothes before 2005 or not”.

Nitish continued speaking through these interruptions, claiming that Rabri’s husband and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav did little for the state.

“What did Lalu Prasad do? He only made his wife CM when he had been going to jail,” he said, further antagonising Rabri Devi, who became CM on July 25, 1997, after Lalu Prasad was arraigned in a fodder scam case.

Taking offence to Nitish’s remarks, Rabri Devi and other RJD MLCs walked out of the session and eventually staged a protest outside.

Later, Nitish told the council that his government would “present our achievements post-2005 so that people know what we have done and draw comparisons with the previous regime”.

Last week, Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav and CM Nitish Kumar had sparred over the latter’s achievements since he first took over in 2005. Responding to the debate, Tejashwi had sarcastically said: “I guess Bihar was born after 2005. Neither there was sun nor moon or stars before 2005”.