Women's reservation bill a 'jumla', BJP govt brought it with eye on 2024 polls: Congress women leaders

Several women leaders of the Congress on Monday demanded that the government immediately implement the women's reservation bill after removing the conditions that it would come into effect after the Census and the delimitation exercise.

The Congress women leaders held press conferences in 21 cities across the country and attacked the BJP for what they alleged the ruling party's ''double standards'' on the issue of women's reservation.

Rajya Sabha MP Rajani Patil held a press conference in Ahmedabad, Mahila Congress chief Netta D'Souza in Hyderabad, Rajya Sabha MP Ranjeet Ranjan in Bhubaneswar, Alka Lamba in Jaipur, Amee Yagnik in Mumbai, Ragini Nayak in Ranchi and Shama Mohamed in Srinagar.

The Congress said its leaders have ''exposed'' the BJP's ''treachery'' in the name of women's reservation.

Patil said in Ahmedabad that the Narendra Modi government brought the women's reservation bill in Parliament to play the ''women's card'' ahead of the 2024 general elections.

The Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra said the bill will not benefit women because the Centre has added a condition that it will come into effect only after the population census and the delimitation of parliamentary and assembly constituencies.

''Why not implement it on the basis of the 2011 Census? It seems the BJP brought this bill only to get accolades for themselves because there is no word from the government yet about conducting the the next census. Until that happens, there will be no delimitation of seats as well,'' said Patil.

''Though BJP came to power in 2014, it took them nine years to bring this bill. They did not pay heed when our leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, through their letters to the PM in 2016 and 2018, respectively, urged him to bring this bill at the earliest,'' she said.

Now, when elections are approaching and BJP is staring at defeat, they played the women's card by bringing this bill, she claimed.

The bill was passed in both Houses of Parliament last week with the support of Congress and several other opposition parties.

AICC spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Ranjeet Ranjan said the Modi government had suddenly called a special session of Parliament and passed the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam - the women's reservation bill.

But the bill is ''post-dated'' as it cannot be implemented till the completion of delimitation to redraw parliamentary and assembly constituencies and the Census, she said in Bhubneshwar.

''When there is doubt on its implementation before 2029, why did the Centre call a special session of Parliament and pass the bill?'' she asked and demanded implementation of the legislation as well as reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), similar to that for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

In Jaipur, Congress leader Alka Lamba said a delegation of women had met Prime Minister Modi in 2017 to press for reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies, but nothing much happened even after so many years.

Lamba alleged that the BJP government at the Centre is against Other Backward Classes (OBCs). The women's reservation should be given based on population ratio, but the Centre wants to deprive OBCs, Dalits and tribals of their rights, she alleged.

''We want the census to be done but connecting census with women's reservation is injustice,'' she said.

She said that BJP wants to take credit of the women's reservation bill, which is a complete ''jumla''.

''Who is stopping it from implementing the bill from 2024? It is RSS which is stopping, its ideology and thinking is stopping the bill,'' Lamba alleged.

Congress leader Anuma Acharya said in Nagpur that the women's reservation bill suits the Bharatiya Janata Party politically and gets them headlines but its implementation does not suit the party's 'Manuwadi' ideology.

She said the Congress has always maintained that ''men of quality respect women's equality'' and had taken several initiatives to this end.

Claiming that bringing the women's reservation bill was a ''politically motivated move'', Congress spokesperson Shama Mohammed said it was the ''biggest jumla'' of the BJP government in the last nine years.

She said in Srinagar that the BJP has a habit of taking credit of works initiated by the Congress, whether it be on the bill or infrastructure projects.

''The women's reservation bill is the 'biggest jumla' in the last nine years. Multiple 'jumlas' have come but this is the biggest one,'' she said.

If Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the government were serious about the issue, they would have implemented reservation for women from the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, she said and added that ''as of now, it is indefinite'' and ''we do not know when (it will be implemented)''. The bill to reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women received the parliamentary nod last week.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)