The Congress on Monday reiterated its demand for the implementation of women's reservation on the existing Lok Sabha strength and alleged that the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill proposed by the BJP-led Union Government was not about women's quota but Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "preservation."
Describing the defeat of the Bill in the Lok Sabha as a victory over "bulldozer politics," the Congress also slammed the BJP for failing to implement women's reservation even after the Parliament unanimously passed the 'Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam' in September 2023.
Describing the Bill's defeat as a victory of the Constitution and democracy, Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said, "It was the defeat of the politics of bulldozer and a rushed delimitation. The Bill was not about women's reservation but one of pushing delimitation through deceit."
He questioned why the law regarding women's reservation was not implemented earlier, noting Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's demands for its implementation from the 2024 general elections.
"Suddenly, the bill (Act) was notified on the night of 16th April. This reflects the seriousness of the BJP about women's reservation in legislatures. They kept sleeping for 30 months," he alleged.
Jairam Ramesh also questioned why the assurances given by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, regarding the states that could potentially be affected through a rushed delimitation exercise, was not mentioned in the Bill.
"He (Shah) was asking the opposition to trust him. How can we trust someone who says something, but the Bill doesn't mention it in black and white?" the Congress leader asked.
"The issue was not women's reservation but Modi preservation," Ramesh said.
He alleged that the government wants to put the caste census in cold storage.
The Congress reiterates its demand that an all-party meeting be called after April 29, when polling for the second phase of West Bengal polls is over, and the government place before the parties its proposals in writing, he said.
"We demand immediate implementation of women's reservation in the legislatures on the current strength of the Lok Sabha. The government must bring an amendment bill during the Monsoon session or in May-end if it wants to do it before that," Ramesh said.
On Modi's assertion that women will give a befitting reply to the Congress and other opposition parties, Ramesh said women will not be fooled by the "BJP propaganda" as they know that it was the Congress that provided reservations to women in panchayats and nagar palikas, and has been fighting for their cause consistently.
"We demand that the government implement reservation for women in legislatures from 2029 and include OBC women too," he said.
In a major setback to the BJP-led government, the Constitution amendment bill proposed by it, seeking to revise the framework governing delimitation and implementation of women's reservation, was defeated in the Lok Sabha on Friday with 230 MPs voting against it.
Out of the 528 members who voted, the Bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.
The Bill proposed to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats were also to be increased in assemblies of states and Union territories to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
(With inputs from PTI)