Nishikant Dubey, BJP MP from Godda, opened the debate in favor of the ruling party
New Delhi:
Amid a heated debate in Lok Sabha today on the Women’s Reservation Bill, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey alleged that Congress leader Sonia Gandhi had “tried to grab the collar” of a Samajwadi Party member during chaos in the House of Representatives during a debate about quotas in promotions in 2012.
The BJP MP from Godda opened the debate in favor of the ruling party. This sparked a protest from opposition MPs, who demanded that a woman MP lead the leadership of the BJP. Home Minister Amit Shah intervened and questioned why a man cannot raise issues related to women.
Taking a swipe at the INDIA bloc, Mr Dubey said Congress MPs had thrashed their allies in the well of Lok Sabha when the then UPA government had brought a women’s reservation bill to Lok Sabha in 2011. He then mentioned the 2012 discussion about legislation that needed to be implemented. reservation for promotions.
“When I talk about the bill to bring reservations in promotion, all the people on these benches will stand up. (Congress Minister) V Narayanasamy presented the bill. Yashvir Singh of the Samajwadi Party was a Scheduled Caste MP; these people talk about Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Yashvir Singh had taken the papers from Mr Narayanasamy,” he said.
“In this Lok Sabha, Sonia Gandhi had then tried to grab his (Yashvir Singh) collar. I had then told her, ‘You are not the dictator here, you are not the queen, you cannot fight here’,” Mr Dubey added. . “Mulayam Singh Yadav had then said that his party’s MPs would not have been saved if the BJP had not intervened. You tried to kill MPs. Now you have come together in an alliance,” he said.
The constitutional amendment bill, introduced in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, aims to provide 33% reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
What happened in 2012?
News reports from 2012 describe Mrs Gandhi’s intervention during the chaos in Lok Sabha. She had reportedly detained Yashvir Singh and asked “what are you doing” after he took the papers from Mr Narayanasamy, who would later become Governor of Puducherry. According to news reports, she had tried to grab the papers from Mr Singh’s hands but was unable to do so. Late Mulayam Singh Yadav, then Samajwadi Party leader, had condemned the “attack on our MPs”.
BJP Credits Left Leader
“The two women who spoke most in favor of the Women’s Reserve Bill were Geeta Mukherjee from Bengal and Sushma Swaraj from BJP. Without them we would not see this date. But Sonia ji has not mentioned them. What kind of politics is this?” Mr. Dubey asked. Ms Mukerjee was a seven-time CPI MP from Panskura, Bengal, between 1980 and 2000.
Throwback to Sharad Yadav’s ‘short hair’ comment
Mr Dubey was referring to a comment by former politician Sharad Yadav on the Women’s Reservation Act, which had sparked a major row. The Women Retention Bill was first introduced in Parliament by the HD Devegowda government in 1996. The following year, Mr Yadav opposed the move during a discussion on the legislation. During his speech, he had noted that the bill would only authorize “women with short hair” – a euphemism for educated and modern women. The BJP MP’s comments had sparked a row, eventually forcing him to apologise.
