LUCKNOW: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday led a protest march against the defeat of the Women’s Reservation Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha.
With a saffron scarf tied around his head to beat the scorching sun, CM Yogi led the 20-minute ‘Jan Akrosh Mahila Padyatra’ from his official residence at Kalidas Marg to the Vidhan Sabha.
He was flanked by his Cabinet colleagues including both the Deputy CMs, MLAs, and leaders of NDA allies including Apna Dal, the Nishad Party, and the Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party.
On reaching the Vidhan Bhawan, CM Yogi along with BJP State President Pankaj Chaudhary launched a sharp attack on the Opposition, saying both the Congress and the Samajwadi Party were anti-women with an ingrained undemocratic streak in their character.
At the Vidhan Sabha, referring to the Opposition, the CM said that PM Modi had allowed them to shun their anti-women image by paving a path for 33% reservation for women, but the Opposition’s conduct had been against women’s dignity.
It may be recalled that, on Friday, the 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill seeking reservation of 33% seats for women following delimitation of constituencies fell in the House due to lack of two-thirds majority needed by the treasury benches to ensure its passage.
Before the commencement of the march, Deputy CMs Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak urged people to vote against those who betrayed the women in the 2027 elections.
“There is no need stretch the discussions, the only point is that the Samajwadi Party must be wiped out. No one can win the 2027 elections without women. If there is no reservation for women, then don’t vote for the SP or the Congress,” exhorted Maurya.
Women and men at Kalidas Marg carried placards and raised slogans such as ‘SaPa ki pehchan, nari shakti ka apman' (The identity of SP is disrespecting women)’; ‘SP ka haath nari shakti ke khilaf, janta nahi karegi maaf' (The Samajwadi Party stands against women’s power, and the public will not forgive it)’; 'Mahilaon ke adhikar ki jab bari aayi, SP hai ghabrai' (When the time came to ensure women’s rights, the Samajwadi Party got nervous).”
Taking a jibe at the BJP's Janakrosh Mahila Padyatra march, former CM and Smajawadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said, “This is the first government that is rehearsing the exercises to be carried out by opposition while being in power.”
The SP chief made a sarcastic comment of the CM's inspection of a tea seller's shop in Fatehpur, saying, “The tea seller used to say that no one can make tea better than me. Perhaps this was the reason for the displeasure.”
The SP chief was addressing a press conference at the SP office on Tuesday, during which he appointed Seema Rajbhar the new national president of SP Mahila Morcha. Outgoing national president Juhi Singh announced the name of Seema Rajbhar, a resident of Ballia, as the new president.
Explaining his party’s view, SP chief said that Samajwadis had been in favour of women's reservation.
“If anyone wants to stop reservation, it is the BJP. We will not let their ill intentions succeed,” he said.
“That's why the BJP's effort was to mislead the public. Now to hide the defeat of their ill intentions, these people are protesting as a part of theatrics. These people wanted to create division among women but we together stopped them.”
Akhilesh said the BJP “is now losing and would never come back.”
“These people are roaming on the streets in opposition to a bill that has already been passed. People who have taken oath. They want to serve their own interests by lying,” he said.
Responding to the question about Gen-Z's role in PDA, the former CM said that PDA itself was Gen-Z. “For the first time in history, one community is going to defeat one party. The name of that community is PDA family. We all believe that those who have pain, suffering, torture... all together are going to contest against BJP and form a PDA government,” he said.
