A showdown erupted in the Bihar Assembly on Wednesday as RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav strongly criticised the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls, accusing the process of being biased and poorly timed, and chief minister Nitish Kumar responded with a personal attack, calling the leader of the Opposition “a child”.

Nitish sidestepped the core concerns raised by Tejashwi, sparking uproar and a chaotic adjournment of the House, in the process intensifying the scrutiny of the chief minister’s erratic public behaviour and internal dissent within his party.

“You are a child. What do you know? Do you know that in Patna city, people were scared to come out of their homes in the evenings…. From 2006, we did so much work (to transform the state of affairs),” Nitish said, intervening as Tejashwi repeatedly slammed the voter roll revision.

In disjointed sentences, Nitish painted a grim picture of the state of affairs in Bihar when Tejashwi’s parents, Lalu Prasad and Rabri Devi, governed Bihar.

“Only three days are left for this last session of the House.…Whatever rubbish you want to speak, you can do it to your heart’s content during the election campaign,” Nitish said, even as some of his cabinet members were seen tugging at his sleeves, apparently to make the chief minister sit down.

Tejashwi had been trying to highlight the flaws in the special intensive electoral roll revision being undertaken in Bihar ahead of the October-November polls.

“We are not against the SIR (special intensive revision), but the exercise is not being done transparently and neutrally by the Election Commission…. With just months left for the elections and in the monsoon season, voters are being troubled and accused of being Bangladeshis and Rohingyas.

“Fifty-five lakh people have so far been declared by the EC as not present at their registered addresses. What is going to be their fate?” Tejashwi asked in the House, stressing that the government should share the concerns of the Opposition on the issue.

However, according to EC data, 20 lakh of these had been found to be deceased.

“The EC has listed 11 documents (as proof of date and place of birth), but why are they not allowing Aadhaar and ration cards? The poor people of Bihar don’t have these documents,” the RJD leader said. He claimed that some 4.5 crore Bihari voters work as migrant labourers in other states, and they face the threat of their names being struck out from the electoral rolls.

Responding to Nitish’s intervention, Tejashwi later iterated that the chief minister was “unfit” to run the government. “The chief minister did not have any idea about the topic of discussion.... He is not fit to run the government,” Tejashwi said at a media address.

The RJD leader alleged that the state government was being remotely controlled by the BJP in Delhi. “The way the state is being remote-controlled by the Prime Minister and Amit Shah, the SIR too is being done on their orders by the EC. Earlier, voters chose the government, now the government is choosing the voters,” he said.

On whether he could go to the extent of boycotting the Bihar elections if his allegations over the voter roll revision were not addressed, Tejashwi said such a move could be considered and that he would consult allies.

Speaker Nand Kishor Yadav had allowed Tejashwi to raise the issue as the Opposition had been staging protests over the SIR. There was an uproar in the House as Opposition and ruling members hurled unparliamentary attacks against each other, compelling the Speaker to express disgust and adjourn the House till 2pm, barely 30 minutes after it convened at 11am.

The Speaker even castigated one of the deputy chief ministers, Vijay Sinha of the BJP, for shouting at the top of his voice to hit out at Tejashwi.

‘Tughlaqi firman’

JDU MP Giridhari Yadav went against his party line and slammed the electoral revision as a “Tughlaqi firman”, a controversial and impractical drive, by the EC. The Banka MP, however, clarified that it was his “personal view” and not his party’s.

“The Election Commission has no practical knowledge…. In this monsoon season, when farming is ongoing, how will poor people arrange the documents?” Yadav asked, speaking to reporters outside Parliament.

“The EC should have started the exercise at least six months ago…. Yeh Tughlaqi firman hai chunav aayog ka,” the MP said.