Raipur: AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday called the women’s reservation bill passed in the parliament recently as ‘jumla’ (false promise), dished out by BJP to ‘hoodwink’ the voters.
Addressing the agriculture labourers’ convention in Baloda Bazar in poll-bound Chhattisgarh, Mr Kharge claimed that the provisions of the bill providing 33 reservations to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies would not be implemented till 2034.
“If BJP wants the bill can be implemented now. But, the bill will not be implemented now, nor will it be brought into force in 2024 and 2029. The bill will come into force only in 2034. It is a ‘jumla’ to dupe voters since they (BJP) think that people will vote for them and later forget about their promise”, Mr Kharge said.
He further said that the bill was a diversionary tactic by the BJP to divert people’s attention from the issues of growing unemployment and soaring inflation in the country.
The Congress chief said that the women’s reservation bill passed by the parliament recently was not new since the former PM late Rajiv Gandhi had brought the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution providing 33 percent quota for women in the panchayat bodies.
Mr Kharge also alleged that BJP was trying to destroy the Constitution and replace it with a new one.
He said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had recently carried out ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ from Kashmir to Kanyakumari to unite the country and save the Constitution.
Mr Kharge also accused the Centre of misusing the Central agencies such as enforcement directorate (ED) and Income Tax (IT) to target the Congress-ruled states.
But, Congress would not be intimidated by such actions by the ED and would teach BJP a lesson in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he added.
He praised the Bhupesh Baghel government for undertaking measures for the uplift of farmers, the poor, SC, ST and other weaker sections of the society and said that what was done in Chhattisgarh in the last five years under the Bhupesh Baghel government could not be done in the previous 15-year-rule of the Raman Singh regime.
He said that the state government has waived crop loans of 19 lakh farmers in Chhattisgarh, besides providing financial assistance of Rs 7,000 each to the landless agriculture workers.
