New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday addressed the Lok Sabha during the debate on the Women’s Reservation and Delimitation Bill. During his address, he referred to Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav as his friend.
"Akhilesh ji is my friend, so at times he does offer support," PM Modi said. Yadav can be seen folding his hands and smiling in reaction to the remarks.
Invoking his own OBC background, PM Modi said, "It is true that I come from an extremely backward section of society, but my responsibility is to take everyone along. The Constitution has shown me this path, and for me, the Constitution is supreme. It is the strength of our Constitution that a person like me, from a very humble and backward background, has been entrusted with such a great responsibility by the country," PM Modi added.
Earlier in the day, Akhilesh Yadav slammed the BJP-led government saying that it wants to delay the caste-based census because if conducted, the Centre will have to release caste-based data and implement caste-based reservations for backward communities.
Amit Shah Vs Akhilesh Yadav
Earlier in the day, Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav alleged that the current Bill was tampering with the basic spirit of the Constitution. Clarifying the party’s position, he said that the SP would not support the Bill unless OBC and Muslim women were included in the reservation.
Responding to this, Home Minister Amit Shah said that nowhere in the Constitution is there any mention of reservation in the name of religion. To this, Akhilesh Yadav questioned, "Don't Muslim women constitute half the population?"
After this, in a witty response, HM Shah said, "Samajwadi Party saari ticketin Muslim mahilaon ko de de, humein kaha aapatti hai? humein koi aapatti nahi hai." which roughly translates to, " We have no objection to the SP giving all seats to Muslim women."
