Uttar Pradesh Opposition leaders, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) president Mayawati and Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav, on September 20, attacked the Union Government for linking the women’s reservation Bill with the delimitation exercise and census, demanding that the quota should come into being “immediately”.
“According to this Bill, reservation will not be provided to women for 15-16 years, because firstly a census will be conducted and then delimitation of seats will be done. A census will take a long time, only after which the Bill would be implemented. The Bill is being brought not to give reservations to women, but to lure them before the general elections,” said Ms. Mayawati, in a press conference, urging the Union Government to drop the two provisions of census and delimitation, so women get the benefit of reservation immediately.
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While Mr. Yadav, who leads the SP, the principal Opposition party in the U.P. Assembly accused the BJP of making a mockery of a serious issue like ‘women’s reservation, adding the BJP Government is neither in favour of census nor caste enumeration, without which women’s reservation is not possible.
“On the very first day of the new Parliament, the BJP Government started its innings with a ‘grand lie’. When the women’s reservation Bill cannot be implemented without census and delimitation, which will take many years, then why did the BJP Government need to lie to women in this situation. The BJP Government is neither in favour of census nor caste enumeration, without these women’s reservation is not possible. This half-baked Bill is a mockery of a serious issue like ‘women’s reservation’, women will respond to it by voting against BJP in the upcoming elections,” wrote the SP president on X (formally Twitter).
Earlier both the parties pushed for a quota for Backward Classes, Dalits, Scheduled Tribes (STs) within the proposed women’s reservation Bill with Mr. Yadav calling for social justice along with gender justice in the women’s reservation Bill, while the BSP president demanded 50% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies.
