Amid the ongoing debate over the Women’s reservation bill in the Special session of the parliament, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on 20 September said that he supports the bill, but lamented that the measure was ‘incomplete’ as it lacks quota for other backward classes.
“It (Women’s Reservation Bill) is a big step and I am sure everybody – the treasury benches and the Opposition – in this room agrees that this is a very important step for the women of our country. There is one thing, in my view, that makes this bill incomplete. I would like to have seen OBC reservation included into this bill,” he said in Lok Sabha.
Adding more, he said, “You (Government) implement this bill. There is no need for delimitation and census, just give 33 percent reservation to women.”
ALSO READ: ‘Remove all obstacles…implement immediately’: Sonia Gandhi on Women’s Reservation Bill
Apart from this, Gandhi alleged that the moment the opposition raised the caste census, the BJP tried to create new distractions.
Speaking on the new parliament building, Rahul said, “The President is a woman, from a tribal community, would’ve been befitting to have her visible in transfer to the new Parliament building.”
He added, “This is a nice, tasteful building but would have liked to see the President in this process.”
Earlier, the new Parliament reverberated with explosive speeches from women MPs on Wednesday when ex-Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, DMK MP Kanimozhi, and the NCP’s Supriya Sule slammed the government for failing to respect women.
Speaking on behalf of the government, Union minister Smriti Irani took a swipe at Sonia gandhi for pointing out the UPA government had tabled the bill in 2010. She said, “They say success has many fathers and failure none… so, when the bill came, some people called it ‘our bill’.”
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Updated: 20 Sep 2023, 06:38 PM IST