Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday continued his criticism of the Narendra Modi government over the Women Reservation Bill and called for the immediate implementation of the reservation.
Rahul and the Congress party have criticised the requirement of a census and delimitation exercise for the implementation of the women's reservation.
Both the houses of the Parliament have passed the Women Reservation Bill. While the Lok Sabha passed the bill on Wednesday, the Rajya Sabha passed the bill on Thursday. While the Congress party supported the bill in both the houses, it has criticised certain aspects of it.
Rahul also continued his criticism of the exclusion of Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the Women Reservation Bill.
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"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," said Rahul at a press conference on Friday.
The Modi government has explained that the requirement of census and delimitation exercise as a means to ensure fair and transparent allocation of reserved seats. The Opposition, on the other hand, has argued that it is a tactic on part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to delay the implementation.
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It has been pointed that out that the census could take place only after 2024, which has been pending since 2021, and delimitation would take place after the census results are published. This means that the women reservation is unlikely to be implemented before the 2029 general elections.
Rahul 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."
Rahul also called upon the Modi government to release the caste data collected during the Congress rule (2004-14) and raised the issue of caste census.
"They (government) are diverting the attention from OBC census. PM says he is working a lot for the OBCs. If that is the case, why are only three out of 90 bureaucrats from the OBC community...They should also make public the data on caste census which we did," said Rahul, as per PTI.
Rahul further said, "BJP should remove these two points on Census and delimitation (from Women's Reservation Bill) and should give women their due participation."
Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that MPs are currently elected in three categories and the Modi government through the Women Reservation Bill has accorded reservation in all the three categories.
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"The Modi government has given 33 per cent reservation to women in all three categories of members going to be elected to Parliament: General (which includes OBC), Scheduled Caste (SC), and Scheduled Tribe (ST). He said that provision for women's reservation has been made through Article 330 (A) and Article 332 (A) under this constitutional amendment. Along with this, one-third seats have been reserved for women by giving vertical reservation in all three categories," said Shah, as per a press release by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
