J P Nadda dismisses Opposition's claims on women's quota bill

Opening the debate for the BJP side, Nadda also sought to counter Opposition pitch for OBC quota within 33% reservation for women by highlighting his party's OBC credentials with a claim that BJP gave the country its first OBC Prime Minister, a claim contested by Opposition leaders who said HD Deve Gowda was the first Prime Minister from backward classes.

Seeking to dispel Opposition allegation that women's quota will be delayed for long, BJP president J P Nadda on Thursday told the Rajya Sabha that it will be a reality in 2029 and insisted that the "correct" way to implement it is through a new Census and subsequent delimitation of seats.

Opening the debate for the BJP side, Nadda also sought to counter Opposition pitch for OBC quota within 33 per cent reservation for women by highlighting his party's OBC credentials with a claim that BJP gave the country its first OBC Prime Minister, a claim contested by Opposition leaders who said HD Deve Gowda was the first Prime Minister from backward classes.

He sought to nullify Opposition demand for leaving out provisions of census and delimitation and said one has to follow the Constitutional scheme of things. "If you do not do it, it won't be there in 2029. This is the only way, the shortest way and this is the correct way," Nadda defended the government's move.

"The BJP's intention is not to take any political advantage (from the women's reservation bill). If we were to take political advantage, we would have said that it would be implemented from now itself," he said.

He took on the Congress and alleged that the Opposition party did not do anything for the OBCs while it was in government. He also questioned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's remarks that only three OBCs are among 90 Secretaries in the union government, saying the cut-off for the current panel of secretaries is 1992.

Attacking the Congress, senior BJP MP Sushil Modi asked why it did not make provision for the OBC quota when it brought the Bill in Rajya Sabha in 2010.

He also alleged that the UPA government did not bring the Bill in Lok Sabha because it did not want this bill to be passed. “Obstruction was sponsored through coalition partners,” he alleged. 

Another BJP MP Saroj Pandey said it was unfortunate that the Opposition is raising questions about the timing and the intent of bringing the bill. "As the country celebrates 'Amrit Kaal', this is the ideal moment for such legislation," she said.