‘’Mai Bahan Maan Yojana’ Sounds Like Abuse’: Bihar Minister Sparks Row, RJD Hits Back

Last Updated:December 20, 2024, 23:54 IST

RJD strongly condemned minister Sumit Singh’s statement and said it shows their mentality.

Bihar minister Sumit Singh on Friday stoked a controversy on commenting on “Mai, Bahan Maan Yojana”, announced by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav to give eligible women Rs 2,500 every month, that it sounds like an abuse (gaali).

What Sumit Singh said?

While responding to a question about RJD’s scheme ahead of the Bihar assembly elections, Bihar Science and Technology Minister said, ” This sounds less like a scheme and more like an abuse. These are his ideas, and one can’t comment on them. Just observe the timing of his tweets and video calls—it reflects his mood and mode. This scheme appears to be more of an insult than a plan. If you listen carefully, it seems more like criticism than an actual scheme. Who advises him on such ideas? And why does all this come to mind just before elections?”

“They (the RJD) were in power till last year and he (Mr Yadav) was the deputy chief minister. He could have implemented such a scheme then as well,” the lone Independent minister in Nitish Kumar cabinet said.

RJD reacts

The RJD strongly condemned Singh’s statement and said it shows their mentality.

“Those who think the ‘Maai Bahan Samman Yojana’ sounds like an abuse… hate not only the mothers, sisters and Bahujan population of Bihar but also the soil, language, identity and dialect of the state,” the party said in a post on X.

What is ‘Mai Bahan Samman Yojana’?

In a bid to woo women vote bank, former state deputy minister Tejashwi Yadav has announced ‘Mai Bahan Samman Yojana’. He announced that if voted to power, his government will give Rs 2,500 per month to the “economically disadvantaged and deprived” women in the state under the MBMY scheme.

“If our government is formed in the state, we will start the ‘Maai Behan Maan Yojana’… Under the Maai Behan Maan Yojana, we will give Rs 2500 directly to the accounts of our economically weak mothers and sisters. As soon as the government is formed, we will start this scheme within a month,” Tejashwi told a gathering in Darbhanga last week.

Sharing the details of the scheme on X, Tejashwi said that through this scheme, the party wants to empower every woman in Bihar and added that when women get empowered, “the family and society automatically become stronger.”

The scheme is similar to the Ladli Behen yojana announced by the Madhya Pradesh government last year, which played a key role in the BJP remaining in power in the state. Similar schemes are also seen to have powered the victories of the ruling coalitions in Maharashtra (‘Ladki Bahin’) and Jharkhand (‘Maiyya Samman’) earlier this year.

Ahead of the Delhi elections, expected to be held in February, the AAP has also announced a financial assistance scheme, called ‘Mukhyamantri Mahila Samman Yojana’, under which eligible women will get ₹ 1,000 a month.

The assembly elections are due in Bihar in the second half of 2025, but both the INDIA alliance and NDA have already unveiled their election mechanism to woo voters.