On the day the Narendra Modi government at the Centre introduced the 128th Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2023, which aims to provide reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and all state Assemblies, some of the old tweets of prominent BJP leaders opposing the Bill resurfaced on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, 19 September.
Minister for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, on the first day of the special session of the legislature in the new Parliament building, tabled the important Bill that seeks a 33 percent quota for women in Parliament and state Assemblies.
Terming it a “historic Bill”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to all parliamentarians — irrespective of their political affiliations — to get this amendment Bill unanimously.
Meanwhile, the old tweets of BJP Yuva Morcha national president and Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Survya and the party’s IT wing in-charge Amit Malviya opposing the Bill have resurfaced on social media.
And this was not an isolated case: Older posts of other leaders from the saffron party were also circulated across platforms.
Many Congress leaders and netizens criticised the BJP leaders for their earlier stance on this Bill.
Also read: Women’s Reservation Bill introduced with caveats
The posts
On the day the prime minister and his cabinet colleagues were thumping their chests for introducing the Bill on women’s reservation, fact-checkers and netizens busted the earlier stance of at least a couple of BJP leaders on the piece of legislation.
Tejasvi Surya and Amit Malviya’s old tweets resurfaced on social networking sites on Tuesday.
In his post on X (formerly Twitter) on 10 June, 2014, Tejasvi Surya posted: “With the expectation of women’s reservation in parliament, Modi government agenda is inspiring. ‘Dream d (sic) day when women’s reservation becomes reality.”
“Dread the day when Women’s reservation becomes reality” @Tejasvi_Surya‘s deleted tweet. #WomenReservationBill pic.twitter.com/sv70oiwjd6
— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) September 19, 2023
However, he deleted this tweet long ago.
Replying to this, one Koshy Varghese posted: “Tejasvi Surya the dreaded day is here, don’t go looking for the #Exitdoor now.”
Good morning @Tejasvi_Surya, the dreaded day is here, don’t go looking for the #ExitDoor now. https://t.co/4DbMuN4V3B
— Koshy Varghese (@koshy1970) September 19, 2023
Many netizens also took on Surya for deleting many of his old tweets. He was accused of making misogynist posts on social networking sites on several occasions.
At least nine old tweets (posted between 2010 and 2013) of Amit Malviya opposing the Bill resurfaced on social networking sites on Tuesday.
In one of his posts on X on 10 May, 2010, Malviya wrote: “By pushing the women reservation bill, Congress has created yet another constituency for itself. This one transcends caste and religion.”
@amitmalviya @Tejasvi_Surya birds with the same feather flock together. @BJP4India is replete with disasters like these right from @narendramodi #BJparty #Modidisasterforindia #Bjpexposed https://t.co/SYA9qgqBlg pic.twitter.com/VjcGYtf2Dd
— Jayashankar Vijayaraghavan (@JayashankarKV) September 19, 2023
“When we should be taking about moving away from reservation of all kinds, we have a new wave demanding reservation for women,” Malviya posted on X on 19 April, 2013.
Posting his old tweets, Jayashankar Vijayaraghavan wrote on X on Tuesday: “Amit Malviya Tejasvi Surya birds with the same feather flock together. BJP (sic) is replete with disasters like these right from Narendra Modi.”
Many people also questioned Amit and Surya about their current stand on the Bill.
Amit Malviya.. what’s your stand on Women Reservation Bill now? @amitmalviya #WomenReservationBill pic.twitter.com/7gwb6OxoZ0
— Spirit of Congress✋ (@SpiritOfCongres) September 19, 2023
Even several hours after the Bill was introduced in Parliament, none of the BJP leaders appeared to have posted about it to applaud the Central government for introducing the bill.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s old video surfaced, where he was seen and heard opposing the Bill as an MP in 2010.
While giving an interview to a news channel he said that the BJP should engage in internal discussions on the matter.
“If there exists internal democracy within the party, they ought to heed the voices of their representatives and verify their information. I can confidently state that, given the current circumstances, approximately 99 percent of the Members of Parliament are opposed to this Bill, with only a handful in support,” he said.
He added that attempting to push it through forcibly would be detrimental to democracy and all the stakeholders.
“My plea is for the BJP to hold discussions internally and for its leaders to consider why they would want to bear the burden of Congress’ decisions. This is my message to the party,” he said.
Yogi Adityanath had opposed the Women’s Reservation Bill in 2010
#WomenReservationBill pic.twitter.com/HJIxuFaqPs— Ductar Fakir 2.0 (@Chacha_huu) September 18, 2023
