“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,” Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh wrote on X.
Lashing out at the government, Ramesh who is also a Rajya Sabha MP said, “As we had pointed out earlier, 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. 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?”
“The Bill also says the reservation 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? Basically the Bill gets the headlines today with a very vague promise of its implementation date. This is nothing but EVM — EVent Management,” the Congress communication incharge said.
The remarks from the Congress came after the government on Tuesday tabled the Women’s Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha in the new Parliament Building. The discussion will be held on September 20.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “Discussion on Women’s Reservation Bill happened for a long time. During Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s regime, the Women’s Reservation Bill was introduced several times but there was not enough majority to pass the bill.”
“Today, God has given me the opportunity to take this forward… Our government is bringing a new Bill today on Women’s participation in both Houses… ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’ will further empower our democracy,” Modi added.
IANS