Congress call Womens Reservation Bill an "election jumla"

"If the PM had any real intention to prioritise women's empowerment, the Womens Reservation Bill would have been implemented immediately without the ifs and buts and all other conditions. For him and the BJP, this is only an election jumla that delivers nothing concrete," Jairam Ramesh posted on X (Formerly Twitter).

In the series of tweets he further said that in a season of election jumlas, this one is the biggest of them all.

"In a season of election jumlas, this one is the biggest of them all! A huge betrayal of the hopes of crores of Indian women and girls," he said.

He further added, "As we had pointed out earlier, the Modi government has not yet conducted the 2021 Decadal Census making India the only country in G20 that has failed to carry out the Census. Now it says that the reservation for women will come into effect only following the first decadal Census conducted AFTER the Womens Reservation Bill has become an Act. When will this Census take place?"

"The Bill also says the reservation comes into effect only after the publication of the next Census and the subsequent delimitation exercise thereafter. Will the Census and delimitation be done before the 2024 elections? Basically, the Bill gets the headlines today with a very vague promise of its implementation date. This is nothing but EVM Event Management," he wrote on X.

Earlier in the day, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced the bill in the first sitting of Lok Sabha in the new Parliament building. The bill has been named "Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam."

Introducing the bill in the house the minister said "This bill is in relation to women empowerment. By amending Article 239AA of the Constitution, 33 per cent of seats will be reserved for women in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. Article 330A reservations of seats for SC/ST in the House of People."

Arjun Meghwal said that once the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is passed, the number of seats for women in Lok Sabha will increase to 181.

Discussion for passing of the Bill in the House will be taken up on Wednesday, September 20. The Bill will be taken up in Rajya Sabha on September 21 government sources said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the government is bringing a new Bill to reserve one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies and that God has given him the opportunity to take forward the task of women empowerment.

Members of Parliament on Tuesday proceeded to the new Parliament building after bidding farewell to the old building.

Womens Reservation Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha in 2010 and it was not taken up in Lok Sabha and lapsed in the lower House of Parliament. (ANI)