'I Take My Words Back': Nitish Kumar Apologises For Controversial Remarks On Women Over Population Control

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has apologised for "derogatory" remarks about the role of women's education in population control made in the state Assembly on Tuesday afternoon.

"If my words were wrong, I apologise. If anyone got hurt, I take them back," he said.

Nitish's statement came on Tuesday while he was detailing the reasons behind the decline in Bihar's fertility rate from 4.2 to 2.9 percent.

However, the Bihar CM's choice of words was heavily critisized by the opposition BJP, who described them as "shameful", "disgusting" and "vulgar".

Rekha Sharma, the head of the National Commission for Women, had also called for an apology from the Bihar Chief Minister.

Subsequently, he faced vociferous protests in the Assembly.

"Why are all of you making noise? I told you... you saw, the reporters asked me and I gave an explanation," he shouted back.

As the controversy over the remarks intensified yesterday, Nitish Kumar received support from his deputy, Tejashwi Yadav, who asserted that the Chief Minister's comments were in reference to sex education in schools.

"Let me clarify something... whatever the Chief Minister said was about sex education. People become hesitant over this topic... but it is taught in schools. He said what needs to be done practically..." Yadav said, NDTV reported.

Despite the attempts at clarification, Nitish Kumar was the subject of criticism by the BJP; the opposition party, which was once his partner, labeled him as a man "whose mind is infested with worms from B-grade adult films".