Ambedkar told me in my dream to tear 1998 women’s quota bill: Bihar minister

GAYA: Bihar minister Surendra Prasad Yadav has claimed he tore a copy of the women’s reservation bill in the Lok Sabha in 1998 as “Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar had appeared in his dream and asked him to do so.”


The RJD leader, an MP at the time, had infamously snatched the bill from then deputy prime minister LK Advani’s hands during the LS bedlam 25 years ago.

“Baba Saheb appeared in my dream and told me to stop the original Constitution from being tampered with. I followed his orders and tore the bill’s copy,” the co-operative minister said at a programme at Gaya College on Friday to mark Ambedkar Jayanti.

Considered close to RJD chief Lalu Yadav, the minister hastened to add, however, that he “was not against the bill”, appearing to suggest that his opposition was to the constitutional amendment for the quota. “I favour 50% reservations for women, so that they get their rights,” the minister said.

He pointed out that Ambedkar had inspired generations of leaders and their politics. “Many veteran leaders have advanced their politics in the name of Baba Saheb. Ambedkar was a leader who talked about the rights of the underprivileged.”

The minister -- a seven-time Gaya MLA and a former MP from neighbouring Jehanabad -- is no stranger to controversy. In June last year, he was chargesheeted by a Pocso court for revealing the identity of a minor who was allegedly gang-raped.