‘Akhilesh ji is my friend’: PM Modi after SP chief's 'half chief minister' in Delhi jibe over women's quota bill

Amid a debate on the Women's Reservation Bill, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said he comes from a very backward community and his responsibility is to take all sections of society along with him.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha, PM Modi said: “Dharmendra Yadav (Samajwadi Party MP) ji, I am very grateful to you for introducing me. It's true, I come from a very backward community. Akhilesh ji is my friend, so he helps me sometimes... I am indebted to the countrymen and I am indebted to the community builders because of whom I am here.”

Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday slammed the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), 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.

Yadav stressed that the Samajwadi Party welcomes the Women's Reservation Bill, which will reserve one-third of seats in Parliament for women, but raised questions about the government's "motives" behind the rush to implement it.

BJP ‘transforming women into slogans’, says Akhilesh Yadav

He said that the BJP is "transforming women into slogans."

"Samajwadi Party is in favour of the Women's Reservation Bill. We have always worked towards the growth of women. But the Bhartiya Janata Party is trying to turn a woman into a slogan. BJP must answer: out of 21 states they are ruling, how many of the states have women chief ministers? Even your Delhi CM does not have the rights of a chief minister; she is a 'half chief minister'. I want to know why there is a hurry?" he asked.

He said that the BJP wants to delay the caste-based census. He accused the BJP of using women to play games and flagged ulterior motives behind the implementation of the Bill. He underlined that the BJP wants to avoid the caste-based census to avoid sharing caste-based data into public domain, which will compel them to give caste-based reservations to backward communities.

"The truth is that the BJP wants to delay the caste-based census. BJP's electoral deception has been shattered. When we caught the Form 7 and SIR scams cutting out voters' names, the BJP came up with these Bills. This time, the BJP is using women to play games, but it won't succeed," he said.

Modi also said that no state -- big or small, north or south, or east or west -- will be discriminated against in the delimitation of constituencies linked with the implementation of women quota law and warned that those who oppose this reform will not be forgiven by the women of the country.

"There will be no change in that proportion (of Lok Sabha seats) either, and the increase will also be in the same proportion," he said.