Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: Congress and some opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha opposed the government’s proposal to bring amendments to the women’s reservation law in the next sitting of Parliament from April 16, alleging that the move was aimed at drawing political mileage in the upcoming assembly elections. Leader of the House J P Nadda, however, rejected the criticism, saying that the govt has a right to decide on the timing when a legislation has to be brought in.The issue led to a war of words between the treasury and opposition benches soon after the Question Hour on Thursday. Congress MP Jairam Ramesh said, “When on September 23, 2023, the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was passed in this House, the LoP and opposition members had urged the government to implement it from the 2024 Lok Sabha election. At that time, the government said we can’t do it; we have to do the Census; we have to do delimitation.…for 30 months they slept, and suddenly they discovered we don’t need the census; we don’t need delimitation because we have a challenge in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu. This is all politics…”Earlier, LoP Mallikarjun Kharge said that they all support the reservation of women, but the government should not “play games on when and how to bring the Bill”, Rijiju replied, saying that the government is bound to fulfil its promise given to the women of the country. “What is important is that we have a bound duty, a commitment which the Parliament of India has given to the women of this nation. This has nothing to do with specific state elections. We must take it forward because we have certain limitations when we look at the time scale…Let us not get into politics over this important issue,” the minister said.
