Sonia Gandhi Women’s Quota Bill: ‘Seriously Flawed’: Sonia Gandhi criticizes Women’s Quota Bill, calls it an ‘attack on the Constitution’ | india news
In an article published in The Hindu, the Congress Rajya Sabha MP argued that any exercise to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha should be “politically justified and not just arithmetically”, stressing that states that have performed better on population control should not be disadvantaged.He also accused the government of rushing to enact the law “to score political points and put the opposition on the defensive” during the ongoing election cycle in states like Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.“There can be only one reason for the extraordinary haste,” he said, alleging that it was to score political points. He further accused the Prime Minister of being “economical with the truth”.
Congress says women’s reservation ‘not an issue’
Referring to the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, 2023, Sonia said Parliament had already passed the law unanimously in September 2023, linking women’s reservation to future census and delimitation exercises under Article 334-A.“The opposition had not asked for this condition,” he said, adding that the Congress had insisted on its implementation from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections onwards. He questioned the reported move to amend the provision to enable implementation from 2029 and asked why the government was taking a “U-turn” after 30 months.He also pointed out that Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge had demanded immediate implementation, which was rejected by the government.Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi echoed their concerns, saying the risks of “hasty delimitation” were at the center of the debate.Sonia also highlighted that the law provides for “reservation within reservation” for SCs and STs, and said a similar demand for OBC women reservation was raised during the 2023 debate.
Delay in census, questions on caste enumeration
The former Lok Sabha MP also linked the issue to the delay in the census, noting that the 2021 exercise was postponed and the enumeration started only recently after a delay of five years. He said that due to the delay, more than 10 crore people have been deprived of their legal rights under the National Food Security Act, 2013.He cited rapid surveys conducted by states like Bihar and Telangana and argued that the claim that a caste census would slow down the process was baseless. He also cited officials’ statements that most of the Census 2027 data would be available in the same year due to its digital format, calling the government’s sense of urgency “hollow”.Alleging discrepancy, he said the government had earlier rejected the caste census and later declared it part of Census 2027. “The Prime Minister’s real intention now is to further delay and derail the caste census,” he claimed.
Government is pushing ahead with the special session
The comments come ahead of a special Parliament meeting to be held from April 16 to 18, where amendments related to women’s reservation are expected. The government is also considering a separate delimitation bill, which envisages increasing the number of Lok Sabha seats from 543 to 816.Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to address the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Sammelan’ in New Delhi, which aims to garner support for increasing women’s representation in legislatures.The former Congress president said that opposition leaders had written letters thrice demanding an all-party meeting after April 29 to discuss the proposals, but the request was rejected. He criticized the government for instead resorting to op-eds and public outreach, calling it a “secret strategy” reflecting a “my way or the highway” approach.He also argued that there was no urgency, noting that the monsoon session begins in mid-July and the proposals could have been discussed after extensive consultation and public debate.However, Sonia said the process being followed is “grossly flawed and undemocratic,” adding that “reservation for women is not the issue here… the real issue is delimitation.”Sonia wrote, “Reservation for women is not an issue here. It has already been decided. The real issue is delimitation, which based on information available informally is extremely dangerous and an attack on the Constitution.”