Bihar Opposition lobs ‘gun and bullets sarkar’ jibe; CM Nitish loses cool, errs in speech

Opposition legislators in the Bihar Assembly on Tuesday (February 24, 2026) lobbed the jibe of “gun and bullets sarkar [government]” at the National Democratic Alliance government in the State. At this, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar lost his cool and erred while referring to the strength of the ruling and Opposition coalitions in the Assembly. He also asserted that the NDA government in the State would “run without any hiccup”.

As soon as the Session began on the day, the Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA from Bodh Gaya, Kumar Sarvajeet, rose from his seat and registered his protest against the lathi(baton) charge on dafadars/chowkidars (watchmen) in Patna on Monday (February 23, 2026). The police had resorted to baton-charging against the watchmen who had staged a protest demanding a hike in their monthly pay. More than 20 watchmen have been killed while on duty during this NDA regime. The watchmen have been demanding a hike in their pay for a long time. On Monday (February 23), some of the protesting watchmen were allegedly injured in the baton charge.

Mr. Sarvajeet said, “The village watchmen were just demanding a hike in their pay and they are employees of the State Home department. Yet, they were treated with a brutal baton-charge in a very terrible way.” Immediately, other Opposition MLAs too rose from their seats and began shouting the slogan “bandook, goli ki sarkar nahi chalegi, nahi chalegi [the gun and bullets government will not be allowed to run]”. “In a democracy, everyone has the right to protest for their demand,” Mr. Sarvajeet asserted.

Provoked by the Opposition MLAs’ protest, the Chief Minister lost his cool and rose from his seat to retort to them. “Do not talk rubbish. This government will run without any hiccups,” he told the Opposition members. He said that a dismal situation had prevailed in the State before 2005 during the erstwhile RJD regime. The NDA Government, led by Mr. Kumar, first came to power in the State in November 2005.

While taunting the Opposition over their strength in the Assembly, Mr. Kumar made an error in reference to the numbers. He said, “Look at how many of you [Opposition members] are left in the House while we are 2002 in number. You are very few in number, while we are in large numbers.” In the 2025 election to the 243-member Assembly, the NDA won a whopping 202 seats while the Opposition parties won the rest.

“You people did nothing worthwhile when you were in power before 2005. Law and order problem was so deplorable that common people feared getting out of their homes after sunset. You better not talk nonsense,” the Chief Minister said. “Once or twice I had joined hands with you (RJD) but came out of it after coming to know that you are doing something wrong,” he said.

When the House was in pandemonium, some of the protesting MLAs trooped into the well, shouting slogans against the government. However, after repeated requests by the Speaker, they returned to their seats and were later pacified by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhury of the JD(U). Mr. Choudhury said, “If the government will not run, who will fulfil the demands of the protesting watchmen? We will call representatives of several associations of village watchmen for talks and their demand will be looked into. If something wrong or excesshas been done against them (watchmen), appropriate action will be taken against the guilty persons.”