Agencies / Patna
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and union minister and Ashwini Kumar Choubey on Saturday stirred fresh controversy saying Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Rabri Devi should remain in ghoonghat (head covered with sari or dupatta) as he rubbished her claims of fissures within the NDA in Bihar
Ashwini Kumar Choubey made the statement while reacting to a claim by the former Bihar chief minister that Nitish Kumar had sought a realignment with RJD, which is headed by her husband Lalu Prasad, sometime after dumping it and returning to the NDA.
Rabri Devi has claimed that former poll strategist Prashant Kishor had visited her place five times as Kumar’s emissary and that she had turned him away on account of having lost trust in Kumar, the JD(U) president. She had also claimed that it indicated that all was not well between JD(U) and the BJP.
Asked for his comments during his poll campaign at Sitamarhi, the union minister said, “There is no problem in the NDA. What do I say about Rabri Devi ? She is my bhabhi (sister-in-law). It would be better if she remains in ghoonghat”.
#WATCH Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey in Sitamarhi says, “Rabri Devi ji ko kya kahiyega, vo toh bhabhi ji hain. Main kahunga ki aap ghungat mein hi rahiye toh zyada accha hai.” #Bihar pic.twitter.com/bgDkc0it8N
Ashwini Kumar Choubey, the minister of state for health and family welfare, had been in the news in the past for his statements favouring chopping off of the limbs of government doctors who play truant and blaming patients from Bihar for overcrowding AIIMS, Delhi.
Rabri Devi, who is also the national vice-president of the RJD, issued a video statement which was circulated on the social media by her party wherein she asked Choubey whether he thought his male chauvinism was in consonance with Prime Minister Narendra Modis ‘beti bachao beti padhao’ campaign.
चौबे जी,औरत के घुघ तान के राखा तारू त काहे के औरत से डर लागता? 5 साल क्षेत्र में ना घुमलू तो औरत तोहार दाढ़ी नोंच के बिग ना दीयसन इहे डर लागता? जइबू क्षेत्र में वोट मांगे त सब औरत से तोहार जवाब मिली!
आपना बेटी बहिन के घूघ तान के राखा तारा? दूसरके बेटी के खली घुघ ताने के कहा तारा? https://t.co/JyA9XhP9WM— Rabri Devi (@RabriDeviRJD) April 13, 2019
“Choubeyji, you should tell the people of the country what problem you have with women giving up their ghoonghats and taking part in public life,” she said in the video clip.
Rabri Devi on Ashwini Choubey’s remark, ‘aap ghungat mein hi rahiye toh zyada accha hai’: BJP’s slogan is “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” but such insult of daughters? It’s insulting towards all women. I want to ask him, will he ask women leaders in BJP to stay under veil, & at home? pic.twitter.com/KNY6NF18LJ
Rabri Devi, who is currently leader of the opposition in the legislative council, also came up with a couple of tweets – one of these in Hindi and the other in her native Bhojpuri lambasting Choubey for “betraying the pain you feel upon demolition of the caste-based patriarchy which we have demolished in Bihar”.
In her Bhojpuri tweet Rabri Devi, the former home-maker who has over the years evolved into a combative politician, asked “Why are you scared of women moving about without ghoonghats ? Are you scared that having done nothing for your constituency for five years, they might pluck your beard ? And do you practise what you preach, making women of your family remain in ghoonghat ?”