Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar found himself at the centre of a major political storm on Monday, December 15, 2025, after a video showed him pulling down the hijab of a newly appointed AYUSH doctor during a government event. The incident has drawn sharp criticism from opposition parties, who have questioned the Chief Minister's conduct and mental stability.
The Controversial Incident at Samvad
The event took place at 'Samvad', the Chief Minister's secretariat in Patna, where appointment letters were being distributed to more than 1,000 AYUSH doctors. According to details from the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), the new recruits included 685 Ayurveda doctors, 393 Homeopaths, and 205 practitioners of the Unani system of medicine. While most received their letters online, a select few, including the hijab-clad doctor, were personally handed their documents by the CM.
As the woman approached the 75-year-old Chief Minister to collect her letter, Kumar was seen looking at her and asking, "what is this?" He then, while standing on a raised platform, bent forward and pulled her hijab down. The moment, captured on video, quickly went viral on social media platforms.
Opposition Reaction and Allegations
The opposition was swift and severe in its condemnation. The Indian National Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) shared the video widely, using it to attack the JD(U) president. The Congress's official post on X (formerly Twitter) accused Kumar of a "shameless" act and raised concerns about women's safety in the state under his leadership.
RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari told The Indian Express, "Such incidents show that CM Nitish Kumar is not in control. Attempting to remove the hijab of a woman is surely not in good taste. It is a sad reflection of the CM’s conduct." The opposition's commentary consistently pointed towards questioning the Chief Minister's "mental stability," calling the act the latest proof of his "unstable mental health."
JD(U)'s Defence and the Aftermath
In response, the ruling Janata Dal (United) rushed to defend its leader. JD(U) chief spokesperson Neeraj Kumar urged people to consider the larger picture of Nitish Kumar's work on women's empowerment and minority welfare. He dismissed the incident as a "stray visual image" that the opposition was playing up unnecessarily.
The video also shows the immediate aftermath of the action. The appointee, visibly flustered, was quickly pulled aside by an official near the stage. Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who was standing beside Kumar, was seen tugging at the Chief Minister's sleeve in an apparent attempt to restrain him or draw his attention away from the act.
The incident is likely to have significant political repercussions in Bihar, adding fuel to the already heated political environment as battle lines are drawn for the 2026 elections. It has shifted focus onto the personal conduct of the state's longest-serving chief minister and opened a new front for the opposition to challenge his government's ethos.
