Union Minister Ramdas Athawale demands Nitish Kumar's resignation over his birth control remarks

Ramdas Athawale. File Pic

Union Minister Ramdas Athawale reacted to the derogatory remarks of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on birth control and demanded his resignation from the post of CM. The Union Minister said on Wednesday that it is our responsibility to respect women, and although the Bihar CM has apologised for his statement, there should be some action against him.

"The objectionable statement that he made regarding women is not right. It is our responsibility to respect women. He has apologised for it, but it does not work like that. There should be some action against him," Athawale said. "Such a CM should resign from his post. A chief minister is supposed to be a responsible person. He has apologised, but saying whatever you want and then apologising for it doesn't hold any value. He should resign," he added.

Meanwhile, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said on Wednesday that the statement made by the Bihar CM is "shameful, condemnable, and painful." "He (Nitish Kumar) is a very senior leader, and his statement is shameful, condemnable, and painful. This shows the established low mentality of the leaders of the INDIA bloc for women," the BJP leader said.

Chaotic scenes were witnessed in the Bihar Assembly during the ongoing Winter Session on Wednesday as opposition members rushed to raise slogans against CM Nitish Kumar over his objectionable remarks on birth control the day before. The Bihar CM quickly apologised for his remarks and said, "I apologise and take back my words," he told reporters after BJP legislators did not allow him to enter the legislative assembly.

On Tuesday, speaking on the floor of the Assembly, the Bihar Chief Minister said women should be educated as it would enable them to avoid sexual intercourse resulting in pregnancy. Addressing the Winter Session of the Assembly during a debate on caste census on Tuesday, the CM made bizarre remarks while underscoring the need for girls' education to check population growth in the state.

Kumar, in his address to the Assembly, claimed that the fertility rate of the state, which was earlier at 4.3 percent, has now dropped to 2.9 percent, per a report last year. His remarks drew outrage from the BJP as well as the chairperson of the National Commission for Women (NCW), who demanded that he tender an unconditional apology.

Defending Nitish Kumar, Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav said that it was wrong to misinterpret the Chief Minister's remarks as he was speaking about sex education. "Let me tell you one thing. It is wrong if someone misinterprets it. The remarks of the CM were regarding sex education. People are hesitant whenever the topic of sex education is discussed. This is now taught in schools. Science and biology are taught in schools. Children learn it. He said what should be done practically to stop the increase in population. This should not be taken in a wrong manner. It should be taken as a sex education," Yadav said.

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