Dialling down the controversy triggered after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s remarks on the importance of women’s education to control the population, JD(U) National President Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh on Wednesday said that the comments of his party’s supremo were not objectionable.

The Janata Dal (United) president questioned what is the problem with the remarks of Nitish Kumar.

“What objectionable statement has he given? Everyone knows that one marries off their children to carry forward their lineage. So the chief minister had also said the same, What is the problem with this? Only those who do not get anything, look for such controversies,” Mr Singh said.

Speaking on the floor of the Assembly, Nitish Kumar on Tuesday in a rustic style said women should be educated as it would enable them to avoid sexual intercourse from resulting in pregnancy.

The Bihar Chief Minister’s remarks drew outrage from the BJP as well as the National Commission for Women (NCW), who demanded that he tender an unconditional apology.

In a scathing riposte to Bihar Chief Minister, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla today said his statement was “despicable, disgusting, atrocious, obnoxious and women virodhi”.

“The comments made by Nitish Kumar were despicable, disgusting, atrocious, obnoxious and women ‘virodhi’. It only shows the impact of the influence of RJD…If they think like this and speak like this in the assembly, imagine what the plight of the women in Bihar…Tejaswhi Yadav has justified the statement and said it is sex education. It only shows the level this alliance is following,” Shehzad Poonawalla said in a self-made video today.

Union Minister of State Nityanand Rai said that the Bihar Chief Minister has lost his “mental stability.”

“It’s objectionable; Nitish Kumar has lost his mental stability the way he spoke about women. Tejashwi Yadav’s statement in its support is also objectionable. Nitish Kumar is no longer worthy of holding the position of CM. You have destroyed the culture of this country. He should apologise and detach himself from politics,” Rai said.

However, today the Bihar Chief Minister apologised for his remarks, which created a political firestorm, saying that if anyone got hurt, he would take his words back.

Rain tries to play spoilsport but show goes on at Campal

Yemen’s Huthi rebels shot down an American MQ-9 Reaper drone, a senior US defense official said Wednesday, confirming an earlier claim by the Iran-backed group.

The Huthis — who have downed an American drone before — said the MQ-9 was spying as part of US support for Israel in its war against Hamas.

“A US military MQ-9 remotely-piloted aircraft was shot down off the coast of Yemen by Huthi forces,” the official said.

The Huthis — who seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014 and control large swathes of the country — claimed the shootdown earlier in the day.

“Our air defences were able to down an American MQ-9 while it was carrying out hostile surveillance and espionage activities in Yemeni territorial waters as part of American military support” for Israel, the Huthis said in a statement.

The United States rushed military support to Israel and bolstered American forces in the region after Hamas militants carried out a shock cross-border attack from Gaza on October 7 that Israeli officials say killed more than 1,400 people.

Israel’s military responded with a relentless air, land and naval assault on Gaza that the territory’s health ministry says has left more than 10,500 people dead, sparking widespread anger in the region.

The Huthis have targeted Israel on multiple occasions in recent weeks, and the US Navy intercepted several missiles fired by the Huthis last month.