Rift Far From Over? Rohini Acharya Seeks Nitish Kumar's Intervention for Safe Parental Spaces for Women

About a month after cutting ties with her family, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter Rohini Acharya indicated fresh strain on Thursday as she urged the Bihar government to ensure that women can live safely in their parental homes.Acharya, who lives in Singapore, donated a kidney to her father in December 2022. In a post on X, she praised Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, without naming him in her post, for providing Rs 10,000 to women and giving bicycles to schoolgirls but said those measures fall short of addressing deeper issues."In Bihar, a deeply rooted patriarchal mindset creates the need for widespread change in both social and political spheres,” she wrote. “Every daughter has the right to grow up with the assurance that her parental home is a safe place,

where she can return without fear, guilt, shame, or having to explain herself to anyone," she added. Acharya said protecting daughters’ rights should be a priority for both the government and society, calling it more than an “administrative duty” and warning that failures leave women vulnerable to exploitation and harassment.

Her remarks come weeks after she quit the RJD and publicly distanced herself from her family following a reported argument with her brother, former deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, over the party’s poor performance in the Bihar assembly elections. She also alleged she was mocked for donating a “dirty kidney” and accused of taking money and a Lok Sabha ticket in exchange for the transplant.Acharya, a doctor who later became a homemaker, announced her exit from politics in a cryptic post soon after the RJD’s defeat. "I am quitting politics and I am disowning my family...This is what Sanjay Yadav and Rameez had asked me to do...and I am taking all the blame," she wrote, referring to a Rajya Sabha MP close to Tejashwi and another long-time associate. Neither commented on her claims.Acharya unsuccessfully contested last year’s Lok Sabha polls from Saran. Despite earlier speculation that she was upset over Tej Pratap Yadav’s expulsion from the party, she had campaigned for Tejashwi during the assembly race.The RJD’s seat tally fell from 75 to 24 in the election, as the ruling NDA swept to a three-fourths majority in the 243-member assembly, with the BJP emerging as the largest party.