Bihar CM Nitish Kumar pulls down woman’s hijab at event; Opposition slams ‘vile act’

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar courted controversy after he removed the hijab of a female doctor during a government event in the state capital Patna. Video of the incident was widely spread on social media platforms. In the clip, the 74-year-old Janata Dal (United) chief can be seen giving certificates to an AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy) doctor during an event. Kumar then signals her to remove her headscarf, revealing the woman’s mouth and chin before pulling it down.

As the incident unfolded, some people were seen laughing and Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary tried to stop Kumar. This behavior led the 10-time Bihar chief minister to come under fire again for his mental health condition; This issue was raised by many opposition leaders ahead of the state assembly elections last month. Bihar’s main opposition party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) questioned Kumar’s behavior in a post on X. The party wrote in Hindi: “What happened to Nitish ji? His mental state has now reached a completely deplorable state.” The Congress party called the prime minister’s action “shameless” and “despicable”.

Earlier, weeks before the Bihar elections, Kumar had faced criticism after a video of him garlanding a woman at a public event went viral. He also scolded a member of parliament from his party who tried to stop him. Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor had repeatedly raised questions about Kumar’s mental health and said he was unfit to lead the government. Kumar’s JD(U) and its ally BJP won the Bihar elections, gaining more than 200 seats in the 243-seat assembly.

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at work… pic.twitter.com/2AO6czZfAA

— Congress (@INCIndia) December 15, 2025