‘Election jumla’: Why is Congress protesting against women’s reservation bill?

“In an election season jumlas, this one is the biggest of them all! A huge betrayal of the hopes of millions of Indian women and girls. As we had noted earlier, the Modi government has not yet conducted the 2021 decennial census, making India the only country in the G20 that has failed to conduct the census,” recalled Secretary General Jairam Ramesh Congress itself.

The Narendra Modi government on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment to reserve one-third of the seats in Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women.

The senior politician, however, said the reservation bill was “nothing but EVM – Event Management” and there was no clarity on its implementation date.

Meanwhile, Congressman Manish Tewari called the bill a “betrayal of the women’s movement” with virtually no chance of the reservation coming into effect before 2029.

“Article 334 A of the bill says that the reservation will come into effect after the first census, after the passage of the Constitutional Amendment Bill and the delimitation that would follow,” he noted.

While opposition leaders – including Congress lawmakers – have indicated their willingness to support the bill, many have found flaws in the document.

“…Who do you represent? Those who do not have representation should be given representation. The biggest flaw in this bill is that there is no quota for Muslim women and that is why we are against it,” said AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi.

(With input from agencies)

Updated: Sep 19, 2023 4:48 PM IST