New Delhi, Sep 19 (UNI): The Congress on Tuesday dubbed the women’s reservation bill as a huge “betrayal of the hopes” of crores of Indian women and girls.
In a post on X, Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said, “In a season of election jumlas, this one is the biggest of them all! A huge betrayal of the hopes of crores of Indian women and girls”.
Jairam’s comments came after the Central government on Tuesday tabled the Women’s Reservation Bill 2023 in Lok Sabha. The bill proposes 33% reservation to women in the lower house of parliament and State assemblies.
“As we had pointed out earlier, the Modi government has not yet conducted the 2021 Decadal Census making India the only country in G20 that has failed to carry out the Census” he pointed out.
Continuing his assault on the Modi government, the Congress General Secretary added: “Now it says that the reservation for women will come into effect only following the first decadal Census conducted AFTER the Women’s Reservation Bill has become an Act. When will this Census take place?”.
Jairam said the Bill has proposed that the reservation would come into effect only after the publication of the next Census and the subsequent delimitation exercise thereafter. “Will the Census and delimitation be done before the 2024 elections?” he asked.
“Basically the Bill gets the headlines today with a very vague promise of its implementation date. This is nothing but EVM — EVent Management”, he added.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha after the Bill was tabled, the Prime Minister said September 19 would be regarded as a “historic day” and urged the Opposition to unanimously pass the Bill – ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’ – that has been hanging for nearly three decades.
“On this historic occasion in the new Parliament building, as the first proceeding of the House, the gateways for women power are being opened with this crucial decision,” Modi said.
