‘Sonia Gandhi ji Pulled Collar…’: BJP MP Remembers Cong-SP Clash Over OBC Push in 2012 – News18

Remembering a Lok Sabha clash between the Congress and Samajwadi Party over a bill for SC/ST reservation in 2012, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Wednesday alleged that Sonia Gandhi “tried to kill the MPs”. He talked about how Sonia Gandhi, who spoke in favour of other backward classes in the women’s reservation bill at the parliament session, had reacted to SP leader Yashvir Singh.

In a report published by India Today, Dubey was quoted as saying: “In this same House, when V Narayanasamy was presenting a bill on promotional quota for SC/ST, Samajwadi Party’s Yashvir Singh snatched the bill from his hand and tore it down… Sonia Gandhi ji was the first to come and hold him by his collar.”

He added: “I had told her then you are not our dictator, not a queen, you cannot resort to violence.”

Dubey further said back then, even SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav had said his party MPs would not have survived had the BJP not been there. “You tried to kill the MPs,” he added.

According to reports, Yashvir Singh had snatched a copy of the constitutional amendment bill from Narayanasamy in Lok Sabha leading to a commotion and a war of words outside. The SP was strongly opposing reservation in promotion for SCs and STs in government jobs.

During the debate in parliament, Sonia Gandhi extended her party’s support to the women’s reservation bill and demanded that the quota should be implemented immediately. She also demanded a provision for reservation for OBC women. Initiating the debate from the opposition’s side, she said any delay in bringing the reservation into effect would be “gross injustice” to Indian women.

“Rajiv Gandhi’s dream is only half fulfilled. It will be fulfilled with the passage of this bill. The Congress supports this bill. We will be happy with the passage of this bill but we also have a concern. I want to ask a question. For the last 13 years, Indian women have been waiting for their political responsibilities, and now they are being asked to wait for a few more years — two years, four years, six years, eight years,” she said.

She added: “It is the demand of the Indian National Congress that the bill be immediately implemented… but, along with that, provision should be made for the reservation of SC, ST, OBC women after conducting a caste census.”

The central government, Gandhi told the House, should take the required steps for this. The bill has proposed that the reservation continue for a period of 15 years and there will be one-third quota for women also within the seats reserved for SC/STs. “This is the most appropriate moment to acknowledge and thank women for their contribution,” she said.

The constitutional amendment bill was introduced in the Lower House on Tuesday. It was the first bill introduced in the new Parliament building and provides for 33 percent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The reservation will come into effect only after the completion of the census and delimitation exercise.

(With PTI inputs)