Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said there was no justification for a delay in the implementation of the women’s reservation Bill, for which the BJP government at the Centre was trying to find excuses such as the new Census and delimitation of constituencies. On the other hand, the Central government was not willing to conduct a caste census, he said.
Mr. Gandhi said at a conference of Congress workers in Jaipur that his party wanted the women’s quota to be implemented “today itself”. He said the special session of the Parliament was convened to change the name of India to Bharat, but when the BJP realised that there was no public support for this, the government brought the Bill for women’s reservation.
“Reservation for women can be implemented in the Parliament and State Assemblies today itself, but the BJP government wants to postpone it for 10 years,” Mr. Gandhi said. He said the Congress had raised some legitimate questions about the lack of a “quota within the quota” for OBC women and the conditions for Census and delimitation, but the government was not willing to respond.
