NEW DELHI: As the Lok Sabha passed the long-awaited Women’s Reservation Bill on Wednesday, the clamour for quota for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) gained momentum with several opposition parties raising the pitch for the contentious issue of quota within the quota.
While supporting the Bill, opposition parties have also stuck to their demand for immediate implementation of it. Several Opposition leaders, including Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, TMC’s Mahua Moitra and NCP MP Supriya Sule slammed the Modi government for bringing a bill that cannot come into effect before the 2029 general election.
According to the bill, introduced by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Wednesday, the provision for implementing 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies will begin after the census and delimitation are in line with the Constitution.
The delimitation, or redrawing of parliamentary constituencies will be based on the decadal census, which was indefinitely postponed post-Covid in 2021.
Participating in the debate, DMK leader Kanimozhi said the clause pertaining to “after delimitation” in the bill should be removed as there could be an inordinate delay in the implementation of the reservation for women.
“How long should we wait to see this bill implemented? It can be easily implemented in the coming parliamentary elections. This bill is not a reservation but an act of removing bias and injustice,” said Kanomozhi.
According to NCP leader Supriya Sule, the bill introduced by the UPA government in 2010 proposed that the quota would take effect immediately after its passage.
“The endless dithering on when will there be the next census, when there will be the next delimitation, will only ensure that the urgent need for reservation for women will be indefinitely delayed yet again,” said TMC MP Mahua Moitra.