BENGALURU: AICC president and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge on Sunday questioned PM Narendra Modi as to why he had kept the women’s reservation bill in cold storage and did not implement 33% quota for women, though it was unanimously passed in Parliament in 2023.
“Yesterday, the Delimitation Bill was defeated, which is against SC/STs and states going for elections. That’s why all parties decided to defeat it together. But Modi is saying the Mahila Aarakshan Bill is defeated. The Mahila Aarakshan Bill is different and new delimitation bill is different. We unanimously passed the Mahila Aarakshan Bill in 2023 itself. Modiji himself congratulated all parties for unanimity,” he told reporters.
“Why did he keep it 30 months in cold storage, I want to ask. He has not even notified the bill which was passed in 2023. It was notified only at 3am on April 16. It means the bill was not in existence, but still he brought an amendment. To which bill? So he is just playing to the gallery... that he is for women and opposition are against it,” he elaborated.
Kharge claimed the Congress has been fighting for women’s reservation as it has brought the Bill in 2010, but it was unfortunately defeated in the lower House. “After that again we cooperated in 2023 and it was passed. Why did he not implement it?,” he said. Kharge stated, “BJP is the most cunning party. They don’t respect women. They themselves say Shudras and women should not be respected, and women should be kept away from political power, even economic power..”
Kharge said Congress was for equal political representation for women since pre-independence as Motilal Nehru had filed a report in 1928. He also pointed out that the party has had Sarojini Naidu as the country’s first president, and was led from the front by women like Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.