Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday demanded the immediate implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill and alleged that the government does not want to do this while distracting from the demand for caste census.
“Women’s reservation is a good thing, but we found two footnotes – one is that Census will have to done before implementation (of Women’s Reservation Bill) and second is delimitation. It will take several years to get this done. The truth is that 33 per cent reservation can be given to women in Parliament and state Assemblies today itself, it’s not a complicated matter,” he said at the press conference.
“BJP should remove these two points on Census and delimitation (from Women’s Reservation Bill) and should give women their due participation. They should also make public the data on caste census which we did,” he said.
“The problem is implementation. What they have said is ‘we are placing a (Women’s Reservation) Bill on the floor of House but we will implement it after 10 years’. What does that mean? Don’t insult the intelligence of India’s women,” the Wayanad MP added.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, which reserves one-third of the seats in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies for women, was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday with 214 MPs voting in favour of it. A day earlier, the Lok Sabha passed the Bill on Wednesday, when 452 MPs voted in its favour and two legislators opposed it.
The Bill will now go to President Droupadi Murmu and will become a law after she gives her assent.
Meanwhile, the Congress on Friday said delimitation and census were “poor excuses” for the postponement of the women’s quota and alleged that the entire exercise was to create an election issue, without actually implementing it.
“The Congress Party moved amendments to the Women’s Reservation Bill last night in the Rajya Sabha. These amendments would have ensured: 1. Implementation of the reservation from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections itself. 2. Reservation for OBC women in addition to the reservation for women belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes,” Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said.
“Either of these amendments are eminently doable. Both were rejected. The BJP stands exposed on its REAL intentions. Delimitation and Census are poor excuses for postponement. The whole exercise was to create an election issue for a jaded and about-to-be-faded PM without actually implementing it,” he added.