CHENNAI: Questioning the delay in implementing the Women’s Reservation Bill by the BJP-led union government, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday asserted that the opposition INDIA bloc would fight for the early implementation of the bill.
Addressing the Women’s Rights Conference organised by the DMK in Chennai, she recalled the interventions made in Parliament by opposition MPs regarding the actual implementation of the bill. “We have no idea... some of you men are happy, but we are not; we women are not,” she said, pointing to the delay in implementing the quota.
Reiterating his unity pitch to dislodge the BJP regime at the centre during his speech, DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin accused the saffron party of “conspiracy” and batted for internal reservation for OBCs and minorities in the quota for women in legislative bodies.
“Only if we have an internal reservation, the voice of marginalised and economically disadvantaged would resonate in the Assemblies and Parliament,” he said. Key INDIA bloc leaders, including Priyanka Gandhi and Supriya Sule, spoke at the event.
Stalin said the BJP can be defeated only through unity and Tamil Nadu has been showing the way since the 2019 LS election. “A united alliance, like the one in TN, should be formed in every state across India,” he said.
Hitting out at the centre, Sonia Gandhi said the last nine years has seen a sustained effort on the part of the Narendra Modi government to “turn our women purely into symbols to be counted and appreciated only in their restricted, traditional role in a patriarchal framework.”
She contrasted that with the efforts taken by her late husband, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who brought 33% reservation for women in Panchayat Raj, the local self-governments which spurred an entirely new phenomenon of women leadership at the grassroots level.
She also praised the five-time Chief Minister Karunanidhi for bringing reservations for women in police force and how now in Tamil Nadu a fourth of the police force is women. As a result, the participation of women in government services exceeds 30% and recently Chief Minister M K Stalin has increased it to 40 %.
Sonia said. “Just as in every other frontier of rights, freedoms, equity and equality, so also in the case of women, all the remarkable gains of the last 70 years have disappeared,” Sonia Gandhi said, accusing the BJP which has been ruling the country since 2014.
Speaking on the need for internal reservation, Stalin said, “Is it to further caste divisions? No. It is to ensure women from all sections raise empowered. We must not allow that to happen under any circumstances.” He said the BJP seems to prefer otherwise.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi, who also addressed the gathering, demanded the immediate implementation of the quota. “We, the women of India have no more time to waste. It is our right to be counted in the political process,” Priyanka said.
DMK’s deputy general secretary Kanimozhi Karunanidhi elaborated on the objective of the conference. Former J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti, NCP working president Supriya Sule, Bihar minister Leshi Singh, CPI leader Annie Raja, CPM leader Subashini Ali, Samajwadi leader Dimple Yadav, TMC leader Sushmita Dev and leaders of various other parties spoke.