Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar waves as he arrives at the assembly to attend the budget session in Patna on February 24, 2026 | Photo credit: ANI
Opposition lawmakers in the Bihar Assembly on Tuesday (February 24, 2026) lobbied against the NDA government as a “sarkar (government) with guns and bullets. In doing so, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar lost his cool and erred in pointing out the strength of the ruling-opposition coalition in the assembly. He also claimed that the NDA government in the state would “run without any hitches”.
As the day’s session began, opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MLA from Bodh Gaya, Kumar Sarvajeet, rose from his seat and registered his protest against lathi (baton) charges on dafadars/chowkidars (watchmen) in Patna on Monday (February 23, 2026). The police resorted to baton charges against the security guards who staged a protest demanding an increase in their monthly salary. During this NDA regime, more than 20 security guards were killed in the line of duty. The security guards have been demanding a salary increase for a long time. On Monday (February 23), some of the protesting security guards were reportedly injured in a baton attack.
Mr. Sarvajeet said, “The village watchmen have just demanded an increase in their salaries and are employees of the Home Ministry. Yet they have been treated with a brutal baton in a very horrible manner.” Immediately, other opposition MLAs also rose from their seats and started shouting the slogan “bandook, goli ki sarkar nahi chalegi, nahi chalegi (Government of guns and bullets will not be able to run)”. “In a democracy, everyone has the right to protest for their demand,” said Mr. Sarvajeet.
Provoked by opposition MLAs’ protest, the Chief Minister lost his cool and got up from his seat to reply to them. “Don’t talk nonsense. This government will function without any hiccups,” he told opposition members. He said there was a dismal situation in the state before 2005 under the erstwhile RJD regime. The NDA government, led by Mr. Kumar, first came to power in the state in November 2005.
While mocking the opposition for their strength in the assembly, Mr. Kumar made a mistake in referring to numbers. He said: “Look how many of you (Opposition MPs) are left in the House when we number 2002. You are very few while we are many.” In the 2025 elections to the 243-member assembly, the NDA won a whopping 202 seats, while the opposition parties won the rest.
“You people didn’t do anything worthwhile when you were in power before 2005. The law and order problem was so pathetic that common people were afraid to step out of their homes after sunset. You better not talk nonsense,” the chief minister said. “Once or twice I got involved with you (RJD) but I got out of it when I found you were doing something wrong,” he said.
As there was pandemonium in the House, some of the protesting MLAs thronged the well and shouted slogans against the government. However, they returned to their seats after repeated requests from the Speaker and were later pacified by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vijay Kumar Choudhury of the JD(U). Mr. Choudhury said, “If the government does not come forward, who will fulfill the demands of the protesting watchmen? We will call representatives of several village watchmen’s associations for a meeting and their demand will be investigated. If anything wrong or excessive is done against them (watchmen), appropriate action will be taken against the culprits.”
The ongoing budget session of the Bihar legislature will end on February 27, likely after the Comptroller and Accountant General’s State Finance Audit (CAG) report is tabled.
Published – 24 Feb 2026 21:27 IST
