The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) said it was in complete agreement with the stand taken by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi in strongly condemning the “jumlabaazi” tactics of the BJP and urged the Narendra Modi government to implement the Women’s Reservation Bill with provisions for sub-reservations for not just the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), but also other backward classes (OBCs) immediately and at least be on the right side of history for once.
In a statement, the NPCC claimed that the Congress had since its inception unequivocally and consistently advocated for the rights of the women in the country.
In this regard, the party said it had reiterated time and again that the passage and implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill, which envisaged 33% reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies, was the central missing piece of intervention towards the efforts aimed at achieving the long-standing goal of empowerment of the women in India.
The NPCC pointed that the fact that the Constitution Amendment Bill providing one-third reservation for women in rural and urban local bodies, a precursor to the current Bill, was introduced and passed in the Lok Sabha way back in 1989 during the Prime Ministership of Rajiv Gandhi was a testament to this belief system. While the Bill could not be passed in Rajya Sabha, then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao reintroduced the Bill in 1992-93 and was passed in both Houses of Parliament.
The party said successive Union governments since then up to the UPA, had attempted to pass the Women’s Reservation Bill without success mainly due to the constraints of coalition politics.
Noting that the number dynamics changed with the induction of the Modi government, the party alleged that despite the BJP enjoying majority and the offer of unconditional support from the Congress, the government had not taken the initiative, thereby losing the chance of correcting a historical wrong perpetrated against the women of the nation.
It was against this backdrop, the party said its leaders had entered the floor of Parliament when the BJP called for a special session for discussion on the Women’s Reservation Bill, hoping against conventional wisdom that the Modi government had finally found the moral courage to pass and implement the Bill.
However, the NPCC lamented that what transpired during the discussion was the unfolding of yet another trademark event management theatrics of the BJP, insulting not just the collective intelligence of the august House, but putting salt to injury of the women of the country.
According to the Congress, the BJP’s contention that the Women’s Reservation Bill could not be implemented till the completion of the caste census and delimitation exercise was just another “well-orchestrated jumla” to fool the nation. And, if this was the case, then the party said the Bill would not be implemented for the next 10 years at the least.