Why women\'s quota bill if it cannot be implemented immediately, asks Priyanka

Dhar (MP): Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Thursday said the BJP-led Union government was treating women as a "joke" as the newly enacted legislation which reserves seats for them in legislatures can not be implemented for ten years.

Speaking at a rally at Mohankheda in Dhar district of poll-bound Madhya Pradesh, she asked why the government brought in the bill at this stage if the quota could not be put into effect immediately.

"The BJP-led Union government brought in the women's reservation bill.... all of us Opposition parties also supported it.Then we learnt that it will not be implemented for ten years, before that the census will be conducted. Then what was the point of this announcement?.....You are treating women as a joke," Gandhi said.

The government will have to carry out the delimitation exercise before implementing the new Act (which reserves 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures), and this will take ten years, the Congress leader pointed out.

"If everyone has equal rights, then why a caste census is not being conducted? In the Bihar caste census, it was found that 84 percent of the population is OBCs and Dalits, but these people are not holding government posts, and when asked, they (BJP) fall silent," Gandhi further said.