Women Quota Bill: Modi grabs headline; Congress spotlights devils in details

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By Our Special Correspondent

New Delhi, September 19: Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to deliver on a perfect script backed by a fortnight of suspense in unveiling the first day in the new parliament by taking the onus for bringing the women reservation bill. The Congress punched holes in the script by spotlighting that devils were hidden in the details.

To build up the euphoria, the Modi government created suspense over the agenda of the special session of parliament but dots began tumbling out of the saffron stable and it became apparent that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would pull out the women reservation bill – The Constitution (one hundred and twenty eighth) Amendment Bill, 2023 – in the 10^th year of the Modi government to cast the net wide for the next Lok Sabha elections.

The ruling BJP brought the women achievers to watch the “history unfolding” from the galleries of the Lok Sabha and to further fan the narrative that the Modi government finally delivered on 27-year long wait for half the population of the country.

But leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjuna Kharge got sufficient time to read the bill, which was allegedly not even shared with the Opposition at the time of the introduction in the Lok Sabha. Kharge charged that the bill asks women to wait until the Census is held and the subsequent delimitation exercise is done. Thus, the women quota bill, according to Kharge, may not come in action in the next elections for the Lok Sabha, as well as several Assemblies.

It may be noted that the Census 2021 is not yet been carried out, delayed on the pretext of the Covid-19 pandemic, while delimitation exercise is a long drawn exercise, as seen in the case of Jammu and Kashmir, which is not complete despite several months of works.

“The Women’s Reservation Bill introduced today in the Lok Sabha is a typical example of BJP’s deceptive politics. The Bill should be called by the name ‘Nari Shakti Mockery Adhiniyam (Bill)’ The Bill mocks the women of India and asks them to wait for the next Census. It further mocks the women of India and asks them, after the Census, to wait for the Delimitation of constituencies The Government must have ‘reasoned’ that the women of India have been waiting since 9-3-2010 and hence they can be asked to wait indefinitely. It is not a Bill (Adhiniyam), it is an election jumla,” said P Chidambaram, senior Congress leader and former Union Minister.