Nitish Kumar was speaking at the inauguration of a girls' hostel in Patna
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, while sending out a strong message against dowry, ended up making a comment that has raised eyebrows - "If a man marries another man, will there be childbirth?"
Speaking at the inauguration of a girls' hostel in Patna, Mr Kumar said there were very few girl students in engineering and medical courses in his time. "It would look very bad. If a single girl enrolled in the course, everyone would stare at her," he said in a lighter vein.
"But now, so many girls are pursuing engineering and medical courses. There has been development," he is heard saying in a video shared by news agency ANI.
The Chief Minister said that it is on the demand of women that his government prohibited alcohol consumption. "We have also started campaigns against the dowry system and child marriage."
"There is nothing worse than taking dowry for marriage. You will only have kids if u marry, all of us here, we were born to mothers. Will anyone be born if a man marries another man?"
"So you will marry and then have kids, and to marry, you ask for dowry. There is nothing more wrong than this," he said.
Mr Kumar said that he would only attend a wedding if the groom's side declares that they have not taken dowry. "If someone gives in writing that they did not take dowry, only then will we attend the wedding, I have told everyone," he said.