NEW DELHI: Launching a blistering attack on the Modi government on the proposed bills to amend the Women’s Reservation Act, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the bill has nothing to do with women’s reservation and was an attempt to change India’s electoral map.
Participating in the debate in Lok Sabha, Gandhi said, “This bill is an attempt to change the country’s electoral map, using and hiding behind India’s women.” He called it a “shameful act”.
Reaffirming the opposition’s support for women’s reservation, he said, “We will help pass it from this very moment. What is being presented now as the women’s bill is something else entirely, and the truth about it needs to be told.”
On caste census, Gandhi said, “It is a historical fact how Indian society treated Dalits and OBCs and their women… what is being attempted here is a bypass of the caste census. Here, they are trying to avoid giving power and representation to my OBC brothers and sisters, and taking power from them.”
Lacing his speech with analogies and jibes at the government, the Congress leader said, “You are scared of what is happening in the country’s politics, you are scared of the erosion of your strength, and you are trying to rejig the Indian political map. You have done it in J&K, you have done it in Assam, and now you are imagining that you can do it in the whole of India.”
Gandhi said the government is telling southern, northeastern, and smaller states that for the BJP to remain in power, “we are going to take away representation from you”. He assured these regions: “Under no circumstances will the opposition allow the government to do this. The entire opposition will defeat this attempt of yours to attack the nation state and deprive OBCs and Dalits of their rightful place in society,” Gandhi said.
“You call OBCs Hindus, you call Dalits Hindus, but you do not give them any space in the power structure of the country,” he said.
Gandhi also took a swipe at Modi using an anecdote about a magic show he watched as a child, drawing strong protests from BJP MPs. Responding to the uproar from the treasury benches over his apparent reference to the Modi in connection with the Balakot strike, demonetisation and Operation Sindoor, Gandhi said, “You are not the people of India, you are not the armed forces, so you should not hide behind the people and the armed forces.”