PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal (United) supremo Nitish Kumar lost his cool in the Bihar Assembly on Tuesday after members of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the main Opposition party in the state, accused his government of running the state through “goli-bandook” (guns and bullets).
The trouble erupted after Opposition members created a ruckus inside the Assembly and alleged that Nitish Kumar was governing through guns and bullets, attempting to suppress people’s voices.
Opposition members raised the demand to increase the stipends of Chaukidar-Dafadars. Although Assembly Speaker Prem Kumar tried to restore peace and calm the protesting members, they did not pay heed and instead began shouting slogans against Nitish, who was present in the House.
RJD members shouted, “Bandook goli ki sarkar nahi chalegi.” State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary also intervened when the protesting members entered the well of the House and continued raising slogans.
Choudhary assured that representatives of the Chaukidar-Dafadar association would be invited for negotiations on the issue.
The slogan shouting infuriated Chief Minister Nitish, who stood up from his chair in anger and said, “Do not talk rubbish. The government will run without any trouble. Just look at us. We are 202. Look at how many of you are left now.”
Nitish was referring to the RJD’s performance in the 2025 Assembly elections, in which the party won only 25 seats — one of the lowest tallies in its electoral history.
The BJP-JD(U)-led NDA had swept the election, securing 202 seats in the 243-member Assembly.
Earlier, RJD MLA Sarvajeet had raised the issue of Chaukidar-Dafadars in the House, a day after they staged a protest in Patna. Police used force to disperse the protesters on Monday after they blocked roads and disrupted vehicular traffic.
When RJD MLA Bhai Virendra reminded the 76-year-old JD(U) supremo of his two brief stints with the RJD in the past, Nitish retorted, “You did nothing when you were in power. Law and order was so abysmal that people feared stepping out after 5 pm before 2005.”
He asked Bhai Virendra not to speak on law and order. “Don’t talk nonsense here. What you people have done is known to everyone. You have no right to question law and order,” Nitish said, taking a swipe at the RJD’s rule before the NDA came to power in the state.
Amid the heated exchange, some Opposition members trooped into the well of the House, briefly plunging the Assembly into turmoil.