What was the situation during your parent’s regime?…did anyone come outside after dark in Patna? asks Nitish to Tejashwi Yadav

On the third day of the five-day Monsoon Session of the Bihar Assembly, when Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav, who is also the Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, was speaking on the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral roll exercise, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar suddenly stood up on his chair and called Mr. Yadav a bachha (child) while launching an attack on the previous regime of his (Mr. Yadav’s) parents’ Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi in the State while asking him, “did anyone come outside after dark in Patna?”

Amidst the uproar between ruling the NDA and the Opposition mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) leaders, the House was first adjourned till lunch. After it was resumed, the Opposition parties staged a walk out from the House. Earlier, before entering the House, the Opposition party leaders protested on the SIR inside the Assembly premises.

Also Read | Opposition protests in Parliament against Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls

“What was the situation during your parents’ regime? You were a bachha (child) at that time. Your father (Lalu Prasad Yadav) and your mother (Rabri Devi) have been Chief Ministers of the State for seven years each…andhera hone ke baad koi bahar nikalta tha ji Patna mein ? (did anyone come outside after dark in Patna?)”, asked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Most of the Opposition party leaders were in black in protest over the SIR. “For some time, I went with you (RJD-led mahagathbandhan in the government) but you’re not doing right thing, so I left you. We (BJP and JD-U) have been together from the beginning and we’ll stay that way”, Mr. Kumar said.

The Chief Minister further said that the Central government “is supporting the State government for its development”. “What was being done for women at that time? What was being done for Muslims?. We’ve worked for all sections. You do not even know all this. You were a child”, the Chief Minister asserted.

Earlier, Mr. Yadav spoke about the revision of voter’s list and said, “We’re not opposing the SIR but the process of it is not transparent and it is wrong. The Election Commission says they have received complaints that people from outside have come as voters here in Bihar. When this drive was carried out in 2003, it took a year to complete at that time. Between 2003 and 2025 several elections were held. Should we say then that Nitish Kumar is a fake Chief Minister? Why the SIR was not started soon after the Lok Sabha elections last year?”, asked Mr. Yadav in his speech inside the House.

It is said that 52 lakh voters have not been found at their registered addresses as most of them have either died, shifted somewhere else permanently or enrolled as voters at multiple locations or are untraceable. “The EC’s job is to conduct free and fair elections and not to verify citizenship of people”, contended Mr. Yadav. “ A discussion must be held on the issue of SIR in the Assembly”, he demanded.