Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday took a dig at the Centre for its women’s reservation bill in the Lok Sabha, labelling it an ” election jumla (slogan)” and proposing a satirical name, ” Nari Shakti Mockery Adhiniyam (Women Empowerment Mockery Campaign)”.
Earlier in the day, the central government introduced a long-standing constitutional amendment bill aimed at reserving 33 per cent of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
Named the Narishakti Vandan Adhiniyam, the bill was presented in the Lower House of Parliament by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal. However, the bill will only come into effect after the completion of a delimitation exercise, making it unlikely to be implemented in time for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“The date of the next Census is indeterminate. The date of the next. Delimitation is indeterminate (and perhaps controversial). The Women’s Reservation is dependent on two indeterminate dates! Can there be a greater jumla?” Chidambaram wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
The women’s reservation can be implemented immediately on the basis of the updated voter lists, the Rajya Sabha member argued.
Even Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge asserted that there is a need to look carefully at the bill that the Modi government has brought today.
“In the current draft of the bill, it is written that it will be implemented only after decadal census and delimitation. This means, Modi government has probably closed the doors of women’s reservation till 2029. BJP should clarify on this,” he said in a post in Hindi on X.
Furthermore, Kharge pointed out that Congress has always supported the women’s reservation bill.
“In 2010, the Congress-UPA government got the women’s reservation bill passed in the Rajya Sabha. Just as SC-ST class has got a constitutional opportunity in politics, similarly everyone including women of OBC class should get equal opportunity through this bill,” Kharge added.
