New Delhi: A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA in Rajasthan has kicked up a storm after making derogatory and discriminatory remarks, likening the BJP to the birth of a boy and Congress to that of a girl, and mocking the latter saying it is in the opposition for that reason.

Bahadur Singh Koli, BJP MLA from Weir assembly – a Scheduled Caste reserved seat in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district – made the remarks in the legislative assembly on Monday (February 16) during the debate on the state budget, The Indian Express reported. 

“Ours (BJP’s) is a youth budget, theirs (Congress) is an old-age budget… our honourable CM Bhajan Lal Sharma, our government gave birth to a boy in the very first budget, and then again in the second and third budgets. The one who gives birth to a boy in their youth is always useful,” he said, as quoted by the daily.

“And when Ashok Gehlot was the CM, he made announcements in his last budget, but a girl child was born, not a boy child, and hence you’re sitting in the opposition,” Koli said. 

A video of his comments in the assembly have been circulated on social media. In it, other BJP MLAs sitting near Koli can be seen nodding their heads and laughing at his comments. Meanwhile, a commotion could be heard in the background, likely from the opposition MLAs.

Incidentally, the state budget was presented by BJP’s woman finance minister, Diya Kumari, on February 11. 

The Youth Congress shared the video on X, calling Koli's remarks a display of the "disgusting mindset" of the BJP MLA. "This is not a joke — it is a clear statement of the RSS-BJP mentality that considers daughters inferior. Even in the 21st century, daughters are still such a burden for them?"

Meanwhile, Rajasthan leader of opposition Tika Ram Jully has demanded a public apology from Koli for his comments. “The anti-girl child remarks made by the BJP MLA are clear evidence of the BJP’s anti-women and patriarchal mindset. His assertion that the Bhajan Lal government’s budget is ‘born a boy’ and the Gehlot government’s budget is ‘born a girl’ reflects a deeply conservative and narrow mindset,” he said, as reported by Express.

“On February 16, your MLA, while speaking on the budget, was making remarks that discriminate between a son and a daughter. Your MLAs were laughing. I feel ashamed that even today, such thinking persists. I, too, have two daughters; I have just married off one of them. And BJP MLAs still hold such views about daughters in this day and age,” Jully said, as quoted by PTI.

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