Nitish Kumar’s Foot In The Mouth Disease Can't Be Cured With Apology Alone

The recent sexist comment by the current Bihar CM, Nitish Kumar to his female counterpart in politics, MLA, RJD, Rekha Devi, asking her to keep quiet as he went on to say, “You are a woman, you do not know anything?" wasn’t a slip of the tongue. This is how he thinks about a woman’s abilities and her point of view, given his many public statements from the past. But we all know that this will be overlooked by most, as a casual comment, without digging deep into the psychology of the subject. 

The War Against Women

Naturally, with this statement, there was uproar in the assembly as others shouted “Nitish Kumar, hai hai” However, deep down, the truth is that most of the protesting male members also don’t think too much about women, despite having women leaders who have steadfastly continued to grow their portfolios, businesses or states that they lead.

If one is to look at the current world politics one can very clearly see, that it is only men who have waged wars against countries. During times of distress, women are raped and beaten up, and every violence is mitigated via crimes committed against women. Male superiority is the unspoken truth from bedrooms to boardrooms and to the parliament. 

The uphill gender war has been ongoing since time immemorial. It is only now, that for the first time, women are speaking up against the biases. The assassination of our former late Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi was also done by her trusted male bodyguards in her own compound. Therefore, violence has been a part and parcel of male upbringing. 

Looking at the subject of manhood, effeminate qualities in a man are bulldozed, bullied and sometimes even young children are sexually assaulted if they show feminine traits of compassion and softness. 

Like men, women too are constantly urged to emulate men. With the current rise of more participation of women in the workforce and public forums, the issue debated is that the under-representation needs to be addressed, but within the confines of the male box that women are stuffed into. They need to be able to stand on their feet for hours on end even if they have endometriosis. If they can leave their young children back at home, who need to be breastfed, that's a sign of their competence and commitment. 

This logic of being overwhelmingly male fails to take into account the bad performance of so many leaders, who are extremely biased in their demeanour and outlook. A Chief Minister asking a woman to shut her mouth is definitely in very bad taste. Also, the fact remains, that it is not the lack of competence among women leaders that is the issue, the problem is the surplus number of narcissistic, patriarchal men who continue to remain in charge, belittling women without batting an eyelid. 

According to the Bihar Economic Report, in Patna, the number of cases registered and disposed of relating to crimes committed against women have increased by 13.05% and 19.7%, respectively in 2021-22. 

In November 2023, while participating in a debate on the caste survey report, in the Assembly, Mr Nitish Kumar once again said, “The fertility rate in the State has come down from 4.3% to 2.9% due to the education of women. An educated woman is able to ensure that sex does not necessarily end in pregnancy, which helps keep the population in check.”

He has shown full-blown signs of incurable foot-in-the-mouth disease. This can’t be cured with an apology alone, the light needs to be shone brighter on the dark recesses of male entitlement, which we all know, is a deterrent to the progress of a nation. 

The elephant in the room, even to date, remains unspoken conversations on the measure of how seriously men are taken in comparison to women, at home and outside. 

The majority assume that a man knows what he's talking about, unlike a woman, who is underestimated, interrupted and talked over, even if she is an authority on her subject. She always needs to compensate for being a woman in a room full of men who deep down think that she is essentially incompetent. 

Mohua Chinappa is an author, and poet and runs two podcasts, The Mohua Show, and The Literature Lounge. She is also part of a non-profit London-based think tank called Bridge India.