Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said the Narendra Modi government had fulfilled the dreams of Dr BR Ambedkar and worked for all sections of the society. During a brief debate on the passage of the Constitution Amendment Bill extending the reservation for SC/ST in Legislature for another 10 years, Yogi launched a broadside at the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party and Congress as he coined an acronym ‘Sabka’ for the three parties.
“The Modi government developed ‘panch tirth’ of Ambedkar in Mhow, London, Delhi, Nagpur and Mumbai to honour the great leader,” he stated. Several opposition members stood up on their chairs to oppose the CM’s statement, saying he was speaking out of context.
However, Yogi countered the opposition, saying these people do not want to hear about the uplift of the Dalits and backwards and the works done by the Modi government. The CM said there are 84 members from the Scheduled Caste (SC) and 47 from Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities in Parliament and in state assemblies, there are 614 SC members and 554 ST members.
Training guns at the opposition parties, the CM said: “‘Sabka’ stands for the SP, BSP and Congress. They have been the biggest opponents of the Dalits and people from the deprived sections of the society,” he said.
“The BJP does not treat Dalits and people from deprived section as its vote bank but works to ensure that the government schemes reach everyone,” he added.
“Who changed the names of the memorials built in the memory of Ambedkar and Kanshi Ram during the Bahujan Samaj Party regime in UP?” Yogi asked.
“The SP government did not give scholarships meant for the children of SC/ST community and the funds released in April 2017 after the formation of the BJP government,” the CM said.
Yogi said his government gave the scholarships and claimed that the BJP had never discriminated against people on the basis of caste, community, religion and language.
Yogi pointed out that when the BJP-led government was formed in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said they would work for every section of the society, be it the Dalits, deprived people, tribals, backwards, forest dwellers and women.
The Chief Minister also listed the various welfare schemes implemented by the Centre like the LPG connection, free electricity connection, houses, toilets and health insurance cover. His words, however, did not appear to be palatable to the opposition whose members soon started raising slogans against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Amid noisy scenes by opposition members before the podium, the resolution to extend reservation to SC/ST in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for another 10 years was passed.
The reservation for SCs, STs and Anglo Indians given for the past 70 years in Lok Sabha and state assemblies was due to end on January 25, 2020. Since the reservation for Anglo-Indians in the form of nomination is set to expire on January 25 as the bill does not extend the facility to the Anglo Indian community, some members urged that the matter be taken up at a later stage.
The UP Assembly witnessed some noisy scenes with SP and Congress members trouping into the well of the House demanding withdrawal of CAA and NPR during the zero hour, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House sine die, thus ending the third special session of the state assembly in 2019.
Before the House was adjourned sine die by Speaker Hriday Narayan Dixit, it paid tributes to socialist leader Raj Narain on his death anniversary. The Parliament recently passed a constitution amendment bill in this regard and it has to be ratified by at least 50 per cent of the assemblies before it becomes a law.