Dhami says Indira Gandhi became PM not as Congress worker but as daughter of Nehru

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has alleged that Indira Gandhi became prime minister of India not as a Congress member but for being daughter of country’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

Addressing a special session of the state assembly on Tuesday, Dhami said that the Congress party always believed in dynastic politics and hence prevented women’s reservation Bill in the special session of Parliament to stall the growth of one half of the country’s population.

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The day-long special session of Uttarakhand assembly “Nari Samman- Adhikar in Loktantra” (honouring women-rights in democracy) was convened to discuss the fallen Nari Shakti Vandan Bill in the Lok Sabha.

Dhami further said, “The Congress leadership feared that their dynastic politics would come to an end if women from ordinary families entered politics with 33 per cent reservation granted to them in the state legislatures and the Parliament. Indira Gandhi became prime minister not as a common party member but because she was Nehru’s daughter.”

His statement invited sharp criticism from Opposition benches countering him recounting how Indira Gandhi bifurcated Pakistan. Congress MLA Sumit Hridayesh said, “It was the Congress that split Pakistan into two pieces” while his colleague, Anupama Rawat, states that it was Indira Gandhi who broke the erstwhile Pakistan into two parts in 1971.

Later, the chief minister stated that despite being in power for decades, the Congress party did not take decisive steps towards giving women their rights to keep them in the dark and in backwaters. “However, when someone sincerely attempted to work for the wellbeing of women and their empowerment for the first time, they were prevented from doing so. This happened despite the prime minister categorically stating in the Lok Sabha that if the Bill was passed, he would give full credit to the Opposition.”

As he made his opening speech during the discussion, Dhami proposed a resolution unanimously supporting the Centre’s efforts to implement the Nari Shakti Vandan Bill. However, Opposition legislators, including Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Uashpal Arya, senior party MLA Pritam Singh, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Bhuwan Chand Kapri, and others opposed the resolution amidst chaos in the house.

The Opposition members demanded that the women’s reservation law must be implemented as it was passed by Parliament in 2023.