Opposition backs women's bill, but seeks OBC quota and immediate implementation

New Delhi: Extending her party's support to the women's reservation bill, Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday demanded that the quota be implemented immediately and provision be made for reservation for OBC women.

Initiating the debate on the bill from the opposition's side, Gandhi said in the Lok Sabha that any delay in bringing the reservation into effect would be “gross injustice” to Indian women.

“Rajiv Gandhi's dream is only half fulfilled. It will be fulfilled with the passage of this bill. The Congress supports this bill. We will be happy with the passage of this bill but we also have a concern. I want to ask a question. For the last 13 years, Indian women have been waiting for their political responsibilities, and now they are being asked to wait for a few more years -- two years, four years, six years, eight years,” the former Congress chief said.

Is such behaviour with Indian women appropriate, she asked.

“It is the demand of the Indian National Congress that the bill be immediately implemented... but, along with that, provision should be made for the reservation of SC, ST, OBC women after conducting a caste census,” she said.

The government, Gandhi told the House, should take the required steps for this.

DMK leader M. Kanimozhi said the clause pertaining to 'after delimitation' in the bill should be removed as there could be an inordinate delay in the implementation of the reservation for women.

The 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, as proposed in the bill, will come into effect only after census and the delimitation exercise.

“How long should we wait to see this bill implemented? It can be easily implemented in the coming Parliamentary elections. This bill, you should understand, is not a reservation but an act of removing bias and injustice,” she said.

Participating in the debate on women's reservation bill in the Lok Sabha, NCP leader Supriya Sule termed the legislation a “post dated cheque” and demanded the government spells out the date and timeline for its implementation

Sule questioned the reason for calling a special session of Parliament to approve the 128th Constitutional Amendment Bill -- 'Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam' when it cannot be implemented without a census and delimitation.

She stressed that since the date of census and delimitation is not yet decided, the bill could have as well been introduced in the Winter session of Parliament.

“There is drought in the country. Why this special session cannot discuss drought? My question to the government is date of next census... the date of delimitation is indeterminant. So, the (woman) reservation which is dependent on two indeterminant dates, how are we going to get it? There is no date decided for census or for delimitation, what is the date and timeline for this,” Sule said.

JD(U) leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh called the measure a “jumla” of the Narendra Modi government aimed at winning the 2024 parliamentary elections.

“We support the bill. We want to empower all women. But this is nothing but a 'jumla'. This is nothing but a panic reaction (of the ruling dispensation) to the formation of the opposition group INDIA. You are scared of 2024. That is why you have brought this bill,” he said.

Samajwadi Party member Dimple Yadav demanded a provision for reservation of women belonging to backward classes, SC/STs and minority community in the bill.

Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar of the Trinamool Congress alleged that the Modi government has made a “sinister” move by linking the implementation of the women's reservation bill with the completion of the next population census and delimitation exercise.

She said TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has always been supporting the bill -- since 1996 when the process was first initiated.
Dastidar said the TMC is a party where over 33 per cent MPs have always been women. “Right now, more than 40 per cent of the TMC MPs are women,” she said.

She said everyone should show genuine respect to women.

Addressing a press meet in Lucknow, BSP chief Mayawati urged the government to delink the women's reservation bill from the census and delimitation exercises that would “delay” its implementation for years, and accused the BJP and the Congress of using the bill for political gains.

The Bahujan Samaj Party supremo, who has already said that her party will support the bill even if its demands are not met, urged the government to drop certain clauses to ensure that the draft legislation is implemented “immediately.”
She said certain provisions of the bill have been framed in such a manner that the benefit of the reservation would not reach women for the next 15 or 16 years, or “several elections” later.