Akhilesh Yadav Backs Women’s Quota, Flags BJP ‘Hidden Agenda’

Akhilesh Yadav, the leader of the Samajwadi Party, stated on Wednesday that although his party is in favour of women's reservation, the BJP is pushing it with a "hidden agenda" that ignores women from lower social classes and avoids a caste-based census.

His remarks come a day before the three-day special sitting of Parliament during which the women's quota and delimitation bills will be taken up. In Uttar Pradesh, the BJP is also working to raise public knowledge of the Women's Reservation Act, or Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.

In a post on X, Yadav, who is the leader of the third largest party with 37 seats (following BJP with 240 seats and Congress with 99) in the Lok Sabha, said, "We support women's reservation but oppose the BJP's deceitful move, which is being carried out as part of a conspiracy." He alleged that the ruling party and its allies were silent on providing adequate representation to women from Other Backwards Classes (OBCs), who form a significant share of the population.

"The BJP and its associates are silent on the largest section of the population -- backward class women," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.

Questioning the timing and urgency behind the move, Yadav claimed, "The haste being shown in the name of amendment is actually aimed at avoiding a census because if a census is conducted, caste-wise data will also have to be shared and caste-based reservation would follow." The Kannauj Lok Sabha MP termed it "a major conspiracy" to deny rights to backward communities by rejecting delimitation based on census data and said political parties should be allowed flexibility to implement reservation based on proportional representation.

"This is a secret plan by 'secret people' against democracy, which cannot be accepted unless there are reforms in the process," he added.

Yadav intensified his criticism in a different tweet earlier in the day, claiming that the BJP's "haste" over the women's reservation law was a sign of political desperation.

He said the party was attempting to avoid a nationwide census, which could lead to demands for caste enumeration and expanded reservation, something the BJP and its allies were unwilling to concede.

He claimed the "A" in the SP's "PDA" (Pichhda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) plank also stands for "aadhi abaadi" (half the people), which refers to women, and that the bill was a part of a bigger scheme to weaken their rights.

Yadav also claimed that growing economic pressures and inflation have disproportionately impacted women, affecting household budgets and access to necessities. Yadav's wife, Dimple Yadav, is also a Lok Sabha MP from Mainpuri.

He also mentioned problems with work and education, asserting that women were among those most negatively impacted by the current system.

Before promoting such legislation, he said, the government should actively interact with women from impacted areas, including workers and families. He added that for any policy to be effective, the issues of ordinary women must be taken into consideration.