© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
His politics might have seen twists and turns, but two things remained constant in Samajwadi Party founder Mulayam Singh Yadav’s parliamentary career: his stand on “China’s threat to India” and his opposition to the Women’s Reservation Bill.
Yadav was first elected as an MP in 1996 from Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri, a constituency he won five times including in the 2019 elections.
During this tenure as MP, Mulayam had taken sudden U-turns on several key issues. In 2008, Yadav initially opposed the Civil Nuclear Deal with America proposed by the then Congress-led UPA government. Criticising the deal, the Left parties mounted pressure on the Manmohan Singh-led government. Negotiations with the parties continued but reached a standstill.
As the nuclear deal was announced, 60 MPs from the Left withdrew support necessitating a trust vote. The SP supremo decided to back the deal, extend support to the UPA government in the trust vote, and ended up saving the government from collapse.
Few years later, another of Mulayam’s flips had left TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee red-faced. The TMC leader announced that her party and the SP would together support APJ Abdul Kalam in the Presidential elections in 2012. Days later, Mulayam extended his party’s support to UPA candidate Pranab Mukherjee.
But on “Chinese threat” and the women quota bill, his response remained consistent through the years.
“Chinese threat”
Both inside and outside the House during the UPA’s rule and the current BJP-led NDA regime, Mulayam would talk about Chinese “conspiracies” and “threats” to India.
On July 19 in 2017, raising the “issue regarding China’s threat to India” as a special mention in the Lok Sabha, he said, “I want to speak about China. Today, India faces a very big threat from China. Since I entered the Lok Sabha, I have been cautioning the government that China has been conspiring against India… Today, China has even taken along Pakistan”.
He went on to add: “I have got news – and how true it is, the government would be aware of it – that China has concealed atomic weapons in Pakistan. (China ne Pakistan ki zameen main atom bomb gaarh diya hai).”
In the same address, Mulayam said, “I have said several times that if there is anyone who is the biggest enemy of India, it is China…You can see the records of the House. I have said this on several occasions that China, not Pakistan, is our enemy”.
Back in September 2013, raising the issue of “reported occupation of Indian territory by China”, he said, “I have been saying this inside the House and outside the House for the last 14 years that China would attack India… It had betrayed Nehru also… Today, China has occupied our territory and it is slowly advancing inside our territory”.
In November 2010, Mulayam spoke of the “threat posed due to increasing Chinese activities along bordering states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Leh and Ladakh” and highlighted lack of roads in the border areas in these states.
“I have information and I want to inform the House that China would attack India very soon…I want to know from the government about the roads which were to be constructed in the bordering areas. Why did they not construct (them)? China had built roads on its side in the border areas,” he then said.
Opposition to Women’s Reservation Bill
On International Women’s Day every year, the draft Women’s Reservation Bill – introduced in 2008, discussed but never passed – would be brought up for debate in Parliament. Mulayam spoke against it on several such occasions, even making controversial remarks.
Speaking in the House during Zero Hour on March 8, 2011, he said that while he was not “against reservation”, “ he did not agree with the draft of the present Bill”.
Mulayam claimed that the Bill would “remove all male members from the House” and suggested a 15 per cent reservation that parties could give to their women members instead. “Abhi aarakshan ke baare me jo vidheyak hai usase saare purushon ko is sadan se hatana hai. Teen saal bad 90 fisadi mahilayen hongi aur 10 fisadi purush. (The present women reservation bill is for removing all male members from this House. After three years, there would be 90 per cent women and only 10 per cent men in the House),” Singh said.
Known for his forthright remarks in the House, Singh would not hesitate to praise the government even when he was in the Opposition.
In the last session of the 16th Lok Sabha, on February 13, 2019, Singh remarked that he wished to see Prime Minister Narendra Modi return to power in the 2019 general elections.
“The term of this House is going to end. It is not sure as to how many of the members would be re-elected or not. Therefore, this is a very important day… I wish that all the members are re-elected,” Singh said, adding: “ I also want to mention that we can not win such a majority. May you (PM Modi) again become the Prime Minister. We all are with you in the House”.
Mulayam first got elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996, and became defence minister in the United Front government. He was re-elected in 1998, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019.
As a member of the Lok Sabha, he served on various panels including the Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing, General Purposes Committee in Lok Sabha, and Consultative Committee under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Besides, Singh was elected to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly eight times (1967, 1974, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1991, 1993 and 1996).
