Opposition Claims Delay in Women's Reservation Bill Shows Lack of Commitment

On Thursday, the opposition claimed that delaying the adoption of political reservation for women until after 2024 demonstrated a lack of commitment to the cause and that it was a ploy to win support for the approaching general election.

On Thursday, the day after the Lower House approved the proposed law that aims to give 33 percent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies, law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced the Nari Shakti Vandan Vidheyak amendment bill. The Rajya Sabha also approved the bill.

If the bill was approved now, according to BJP leader J.P. Nadda, women would profit from it in the Lok Sabha elections in 2029. There is a demand for its immediate implementation. Certain constitutional processes exist. There are questions like which constituencies will be covered by the reservation and which ones won't. How will this be decided? After the census, a quasi-judicial committee will make a decision based on open hearings. Women will be elected in 2029 if the measure is passed today. The much-delayed census and a delimitation exercise in 2026 have been linked by the Modi administration to the proposed law.

However, all parties urged that the law take effect beginning with the 2024 parliamentary elections.

The genuineness of adopting the word "vandan" (worship and reverence) in the law was questioned by Congress MP Ranjita Ranjan. She cited the police action against female wrestlers at Jantar Mantar who were protesting and the horrors committed against women in Manipur. "We've seen your vandana in Manipur and Janatar Mantar. Even though you mention nari shakti, Ranjan remarked, "You did not invite President Droupadi Murmu to the opening of the new Parliament building.

She asserted that the government would not have waited for nine and a half years if it were honest about raising women's representation. A law for women's reservation was promised to be enacted in the BJP's electoral platform in 2014.

The AAP's Sandeep Pathak stated that the law's future was questionable because it was unclear when it would go into effect. "What fantastic guidelines will result from the census and delimitation that the law's implementation will have to wait for? The administration wants to claim credit without actually doing anything, he claimed.

Manoj Jha, a member of the RJD, suggested that the government carry out a socioeconomic caste census to gather complete information on OBCs. He requested a female quota of 50%.

Elamaram Kareem of the CPM, Binoy Viswam of the CPI, and K.C. Venugopal of the Congress all said that the government had introduced the bill due to political pressure after the BJP lost the Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka elections.

According to Venugopal, BJP leaders, including L.K. Advani, opposed the Rajiv Gandhi administration's proposal to grant women a reservation in panchayats and municipalities. According to Venugopal, the RSS never respected women.

According to Viswam, the RSS restricted education to women and members of lower castes and adhered to the Manu Smriti, a Hindu text that established the caste system. It also did not view women as equals.

Derek O'Brien, a member of parliament for Trinamul, questioned why the special session's agenda had been kept a secret for so long. When will the administration realize that this is not an army commando operation but a legislative democracy? Why wasn't the special session's agenda made public? Such secrecy, he claimed, harms democracy.

No woman served as chief minister in any of the 16 states where the BJP and its allies held power, according to Derek.

R. Girirajan, the leader of the DMK, claimed that India was the only nation that had not carried out the decadal census.