A video circulating widely on social media shows Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar pulling down a woman doctor’s hijab moments after handing her an appointment letter at a public function in Patna. The footage has gone viral and triggered intense public outrage, with Opposition parties and social media users strongly criticising the Chief Minister’s conduct and questioning the appropriateness of his actions.
The controversy erupted after Nitish Kumar was seen distributing appointment letters to newly recruited AYUSH doctors at a formal event. In the video, after handing over the appointment letter to a woman doctor, the Chief Minister is seen gesturing towards her headscarf and questioning her about it. He then instructs her to remove it and proceeds to pull down her hijab himself, an act that has drawn widespread condemnation.
The incident occurred at ‘Samvad’, the Chief Minister’s secretariat in Patna, where appointment letters were formally issued to more than 1,000 AYUSH doctors. When Nusrat Parveen, one of the appointees, stepped forward to receive her letter while wearing a hijab that partially covered her face, the 75-year-old Chief Minister appeared displeased. He frowned and exclaimed, “What is this?” in apparent reference to her attire.
Following the incident, an official was seen hurriedly pulling the woman aside. Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who was standing next to Nitish Kumar on the stage, was seen tugging at the Chief Minister’s sleeve, seemingly attempting to restrain him and de-escalate the situation.
The Opposition reacted sharply, with both the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress sharing the video on their official X (formerly Twitter) handles and launching scathing attacks on the Chief Minister. The RJD questioned Nitish Kumar’s mental state and political orientation, asking whether he had reached a “pathetic” condition or had become “100% Sanghi,” as stated in their post accompanying the video.
The Congress also condemned the incident in strong terms, describing it as a “despicable act” and demanding Nitish Kumar’s immediate resignation. In a post on X, the party stated that the Chief Minister’s behaviour was shameless and unacceptable, especially given the dignity of his constitutional office. The post further questioned how safe women could feel in Bihar if such behaviour was displayed openly by the state’s highest authority, calling the act vulgar and unforgivable.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi also criticised the incident, terming it “public harassment.” In her statement on X, she said that forcibly pulling down a woman’s veil in public amounted to harassment and was absolutely condemnable, particularly when carried out by an elected Chief Minister.
The video is from the same Patna event where Nitish Kumar distributed appointment letters to a total of 1,283 AYUSH doctors. Several senior leaders were present at the function, including Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, Bihar government ministers Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, and Health Minister Mangal Pandey.
According to details released by the Chief Minister’s Office, the appointees included 685 Ayurveda doctors, 393 homeopathy practitioners, and 205 doctors from the Unani system of medicine. Out of the total number of recruits, only 10 doctors received their appointment letters directly from Nitish Kumar at the event, while the remaining appointments were issued through online means.
