Few things are more wretchedly ironic than Bihar’s education minister Mithilesh Tiwari questioning the need for girls to be educated. In a video, the minister and BJP MLA from Baikunthpur in the Gopalganj district, who holds BA (Honours) degree in economics and was a teacher before becoming a politician, lauded the value of girls being within the four walls of their homes because “our daughters in our homes are our Shakti, the foundation of our prosperity…what is the need for education?” In an ideal polity, Tiwari would have been benched or certainly stripped of his portfolio after the reprehensible remarks, but in New India, where accountability is at a discount and majoritarian-traditional attitudes mean brownie points for politicians, Tiwari will likely be........

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