Kamal Ghorui
New Delhi: Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday said the constitutional amendment bill on delimitation is an attempt by BJP to change the electoral map of India in the guise of women’s reservation in legislatures because the governing party feared losing power.Calling it an anti-national act, he said there is a bid to deny rights to OBCs and take away representation from southern and north-eastern states. It is only meant to bypass the caste census, which, the LoP said, would expose the brutal and unforgiving treatment of OBCs, Dalits, minorities and women. Rahul Gandhi said his party is willing to vote in favour of the amendment bill if govt brings the original 2023 Act for implementation. “It is a historical fact how Indian society treated Dalits and OBCs and their women. What is being attempted here is a bypass of the caste census. They are trying to avoid giving power and representation to my OBC brothers and sisters and instead take power away from them,” Gandhi said, referring to BJP’s approach as “Manuvaad over Samvidhaan”.Accusing BJP of neglecting OBCs and Dalits, he said, “You call them ‘Hindus’, but you don’t give them any space in the power structure.”Gandhi said, “This is not a women’s bill; this has nothing to do with empowerment of women. This bill is an attempt to change the country’s electoral map, using and hiding behind India’s women.”He called the delimitation bill “dangerous” and “anti-national” and said it had been brought out of the fear of losing power. “You are now trying to rejig India’s political map,” he told BJP, accusing the party of using delimitation in its favour in J&K and Assam. Congress will never allow such plans, he said.“There is a fundamental confusion in the minds of BJP. They think they are the people of India and armed forces,” he said, asking the party to stop hiding behind the people and the forces.
