THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
Patna, Nov 8: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar issued an apology on Wednesday following a controversy sparked by his bizarre and explicit comments in the state assembly regarding the impact of women’s education on population control.
The Opposition referred to the Chief Minister’s remarks regarding women’s education in the state legislature yesterday as “vulgar” and “derogatory”.
“Mai apne shabd wapas leta hu, humane yun hi ye bate kehdi thi… Mere bayan ka galat matlab nikala gaya… Maine to mahilao ki shiksha ki bat ki thi.. Agar mere banyan se koi aahat hua hai to maafi maangta hu (I take back my words. My comments have been misconstituted. I just talked about women’s education. I apologise if my statements have hurt anybody,” Nitish Kumar said.
While addressing the Assembly on Tuesday, the Bihar Chief Minister asserted that educating women would give them the knowledge to prevent pregnancies resulting from sexual intercourse.
During a debate on caste census in the Winter Session of the Assembly on Tuesday, the Chief Minister made peculiar comments while emphasizing the importance of girls’ education in controlling the state’s population growth.
The Chief Minister made these statements while highlighting the decline in Bihar’s fertility rate from 4.2 to 2.9% and the importance of women’s education in controlling population increase.
Amid objections by BJP lawmakers, Nitish Kumar was not allowed to enter the assembly on Wednesday. Later, he was able to get inside and explained that his comments had been misconstrued and clarified that he had been solely addressing the subject of women’s education.
