Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of using the women reservation issue to pave the way for the 2029 general elections and questioned the government’s intention to link the women’s quota law with delimitation and rush to push the proposed delimitation on the basis of the 2011 census.
While participating in a debate in Lok Sabha on three bills introduced for amendments to the Women’s Reservation Act and setting up of Delimitation Commission, Priyanka Gandhi claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “cannot be trusted” and asserted that caste census is important as women from Other Backward Castes (OBC) also need to get their due.
“As long as the caste census is not done, all sections of society will not get proper representation. This government wants to go ahead with the 2011 census as it does not have an OBC census,” the Wayanad MP said. “By making the 2011 Census the basis for delimitation, Prime Minister Modi is trying to snatch away the rights of the OBC community. However, the Congress party will never allow this to happen.”
Priyanka Gandhi also claimed that despite the “hollow assurances” given by the Prime Minister and other ministers, “the representation of small states will certainly be changed”. Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Thursday said that Lok Sabha seats in all states will be increased by 50%, in proportion to the increase in the total number of seats in the assembly.
She also claimed that if the bill presented by the government is approved, democracy in India will cease to exist.
Challenging Prime Minister Modi to introduce 33% reservation for women on the existing 543 Lok Sabha seats, she said people cannot depend on the Prime Minister today as he is mired in problems. “He is under international pressure. He has turned women’s reservation into a weak excuse to stay in power. He wants to create a Parliament in which there will not only be no room for debate, but there will be no room for debate and equality as well. Why can’t you give women reservation in these 543 seats? You can give reservation to women within SC and ST,” she added.
Criticizing Home Minister Shah, the Congress MP said that if Chanakya were alive today, he would have been astounded by the “statemanship” of the senior BJP leader.
“On the one hand, there is this big talk about women’s reservation, and on the other hand, the rights of OBCs are being taken away. A strong structure is being created for the upcoming elections by reducing the influence of small states, tearing democracy apart,” Priyanka Gandhi claimed.
“The Home Minister is laughing… He has made this whole plan. If Chankaya had been alive, he would have been astonished by your Rajnaitak Kotilta. He (the Shah) has made the whole plan, and he is laughing now… He agrees with me,” she said.
The first-time MP claimed that the plan includes “calling a session during elections, without any all-party meeting, circulating the bills just a day before the session so that the opposition cannot get time to study them and start a discussion in the media that Modi will take a big step for women’s empowerment, and everyone should support this rise above politics. By doing this, you are putting the opposition in a bind.”
She further said that after hearing Prime Minister Modi’s speech, it seemed as if the BJP was the only champion of women’s reservation. “Any woman will tell you that women are able to instantly recognize men who repeatedly try to mislead them,” she added.
