: In response to the call given by the All India Congress Committee (OBC Cell), members of the party’s OBC cells in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh held a protest march here on Monday and handed over a memorandum at the Haryana Raj Bhawan, seeking implementation of women reservation law in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Led by Captain Ajay Singh Yadav, Haryana’s former finance minister and chairman of the AICC OBC department, the protesters raised slogans against the Union government and said that the law that mandates 33% reservation for women in both Lok Sabha and state assemblies was a deceptive move and lacked genuine inclusivity.
In its memorandum addressed to the President, the Congress stated that with the women reservation bill becoming a law, more women will participate in the country’s electoral politics and play an equal role in policy making.
“The Indian National Congress has supported the Bill in the Parliament, but our party has concerns regarding the legislation passed in its current form,” Capt Yadav said, demanding amendments in the Nari Shakti Act.
“We demand that out of the 33% reservation given to women, the OBC, SC, ST and minority women should be given equal representation within this reservation proportionate to their population in the country. This law should be implemented from the upcoming Assembly elections in Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and Parliament elections in 2024,” the Congress said.
{{/usCountry}}“We demand that out of the 33% reservation given to women, the OBC, SC, ST and minority women should be given equal representation within this reservation proportionate to their population in the country. This law should be implemented from the upcoming Assembly elections in Telangana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and Parliament elections in 2024,” the Congress said.
{{/usCountry}}The party said that in 1989, former PM Rajiv Gandhi had introduced a Bill in Parliament to provide 33% reservation for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). But the Bill could not be passed in the Rajya Sabha due to a shortage of seven votes. In 1992, former PM Narasimha Rao succeeded in implementing 33% reservation for women in PRIs.
“This led to the reservation of seats for women belonging to the SC, ST, and OBC communities within 33% quota,” the Congress stated.
The Congress leaders said that it was Congress which had introduced Women’s Reservation Bill also known as the Constitution 108th Amendment Bill in 2008. The UPA government led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh got the Women’s Reservation Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha, but due to a lack of majority in the Lok Sabha, it could not be introduced, the Congress said, adding that it was the result of the pressure Congress was mounting that the present Central government introduced the women reservation law in the Parliament.