‘No apraadh, only crimes’: Bihar CM Samrat Choudhary’s remark draws ridicule

Bihar CM Samrat Choudhary and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari during an MoU signing between the Government of the state and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in New Delhi. (@samrat4bjp/X)

Bihar Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary on Tuesday said there is no ‘apraadh’ in the state, while there may be crimes. The remark, made during an event in Delhi, has led to a political row.

“Hamare yahan koi apraadh nahi hai. Apraadh ka concept hi khatam ho chuka hai. Crime ho sakte hain, lekin apraadh nahi, koi apraadhi nahi hai (There is no crime in Bihar. The concept of crime has been eliminated. There may be a crime, but there is no ‘apraadh’ (offence). There are no criminals,” Choudhary said. He was speaking at an event organised by state-owned National Highways Authority of India.

RJD working president Tejashwi Yadav, the leader of the opposition in the Bihar assembly, hit out at the chief minister and questioned whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished to ruin Bihar under Choudhary’s leadership.

बिहार में “𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞” हो सकता है “अपराध” नहीं!

मेरे प्यारे देशवासियों,

ये बात 𝟕 हत्याओं का आरोपी नमूना मोदी जी द्वारा चयनित मुख्यमंत्री कह रहा है।

मंच पर बैठे 𝐈𝐀𝐒/𝐈𝐏𝐒 इनके साथ काम करने पर अपने आपको सम्मानित समझ रहे है या अपमानित?

क्या श्री नरेन्द्र मोदी जी ने इस आदमी के हाथों बिहार को बर्बाद कराने की सुपारी ले रखी है?

— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) November 3, 2026

The RJD leader shared a video of the remark on X and wondered whether the bureaucrats “sitting on the stage feel honored or humiliated” to be working with a CM who had once been named in a case “related to the murder of seven people”.

Choudhary, who began his political career with the RJD, has maintained that he was falsely implicated in the case lodged in the 1990s in his home district Munger.

He took over as the first BJP chief minister after longest-serving Bihar CM Nitish Kumar stepped back in a surprising move in April this year. Nitish Kumar is now a Rajya Sabha MP while his son, Nishant Kumar, is the Health Minister of the state.

Union minister Chirag Paswan, whose party is part of the NDA alliance, refused to comment on the remarks, but lauded Choudhary for having “a clear vision on crime control”.

“I believe that being the CM as well as the HM, he must have facts and figures to back his claim. As a Bihari, I would like to see the state become crime-free and emerge as a fertile destination for investors,” Paswan said, according to PTI.