Tejashwi Yadav slams Bihar CM Nitish Kumar for remarks on women's dress

Patna: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday slammed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for claiming that sartorial tastes of women in the state improved after he assumed power two decades ago.

Remarks to the effect were made by the chief minister earlier in the day while he was in Begusarai district as part of state-wide "Pragati Yatra".

Yadav, who is Kumar's former deputy, shared on X the video clip in which the JD(U) supremo can be heard saying, "Girls have become so confident. They speak so well and dress up so well. Did we see them wearing such fine clothes earlier?".

The RJD leader, who is now the Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly, wrote an angry post in Hindi with the hashtag "ShameOnNitish".

Yadav said the septuagenarian needed to remember that "he was the chief minister and not women's fashion designer".

"It is not that the daughters of Bihar earlier did not wear good clothes. They also covered themselves with self-respect (swabhiman) and self-reliance (swavalamban)", said the RJD leader, who has tried to woo female voters, ahead of assembly polls, with the promise of a monthly stipend if his party come to power.

He added, "Don't try to be a specialist in women's dress (stree paridhan visheshagya). Your thinking is warped (ghatiya soch) and your statement is a direct insult to half of the population (Aadhi aabadi - a Hindi colloquialism for the fair sex)".