‘Govt taking away their power’ vs ‘Why Rajiv Gandhi opposed’: Rahul–Rijiju clash over OBCs during women’s quota–delimitation debate

NEW DELHI: A heated exchange broke out in the Lok Sabha between leader of the opposition Rahul Gandhi and Union minister Kiren Rijiju during the Congress MP’s speech on the Women’s Reservation Bill.Rijiju intervened when Gandhi, in his address, accused the BJP-led Centre of attempting to sidestep granting power and representation to OBCs. “It is a historical fact how Indian society treated Dalits, OBCs and their women… What is being attempted here is a bypass of the caste census. They are trying to avoid giving power and representation to my OBC brothers and sisters and instead take power away from them,” Gandhi said.Rijiju interjected, alleging that Gandhi’s father, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, had opposed OBC reservation both during his time in power and when out of power.He also questioned why the Congress, despite ruling the country for nearly 60 years, did not grant constitutional reservation to OBCs.“When Congress ruled this country for more than 60 years, why did it not provide constitutional reservation for OBCs? The Congress has to answer,” the parliamentary affairs minister stated.“When Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister—and even otherwise—he opposed OBC reservation. Can Rahul Gandhi explain why?” Rijiju asked.Earlier, Gandhi accused the government of attempting to alter India’s electoral landscape by linking women’s reservation to delimitation, asserting that the opposition would not allow the bill to pass.His remarks came ahead of voting in the Lok Sabha on the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which proposes increasing the number of Lok Sabha seats to 850.. While the ruling NDA, with 293 MPs, holds a majority in the 545-member House, it requires a two-thirds majority to pass the legislation.