Nitin Gadkari calls Indira Gandhi a model of women empowerment

NAGPUR: Union minister and city MP Nitin Gadkari caused a flutter on Sunday when he praised late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. Addressing the gathering of women at the inaugural of an exhibition put up by women self-help groups (SHGs), Gadkari said he did not believe in caste and reservation politics. “This nation had leaders like Indira Gandhi. She got the better of many stalwart male leaders of her time. Did she get any reservation,” he asked.

Gadkari’s party BJP has frequently criticised Indira, especially for imposition of Emergency. Later, however, he mentioned women leaders from BJP like Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhara Raje and Sumitra Mahajan.

“Women should get reservation and I will not oppose it. A person never excels on the basis of caste, language, religion or sex. One rises on the basis of knowledge. Do we ask religion of Sai Baba, Gajanan Maharaj or Tukadoji Maharaj? Do we ask about the caste of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, or Mahatma Jyotiba Phule? I am against politics of caste and religion,” he said.

“The need is to increase our skill and knowledge. If we have good knowledge, the party will come to your home and give ticket. Therefore, the NMC (Nagpur Municipal Corporation) should train women and increase their skill and empower them. At the same time, some sections and women need reservation,” he said.

The exhibition was organised by NMC at Reshimbagh ground, adjacent to RSS’s Hedgewar Smarak here.

Gadkari praised the civic body for distributing e-rickshaws worth Rs 1 crore to persons with disabilities. “It is a historic initiative. E-rickshaw is my brainchild. I faced a lot of problems when I brought a bill about e-rickshaws in Parliament. Some people even went to Supreme Court. Now e-rickshaws are all over the nation,” he said.

Revealing his own innovative projects, Gadkari said he was producing silica from rice husk ash. “It is very difficult to dispose of ash. After experimenting for four years, we came up with a way to produce silica. We are producing 100 tonnes of it. We got order for 70 tonnes of silica from Dubai at Rs 560 per kg,” he said.