New Delhi [India], April 16 (ANI): Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi on Thursday said that the Centre intends to carry out the delimitation process in the country under the guise of women’s reservation for the electoral legislature.
He further accused the Centre of “creating hurdles” for implementing women’s reservation and said that the Congress has always supported the same while urging to delink the women’s quota from the delimitation process.
“Three years ago, the Union Home Minister spoke on similar lines as the Union Law Minister did today, that the women’s reservation was historic, happening for the first time. We had said this then, and we are saying it now that Congress supports the women’s reservation. But please make the women’s reservation straightforward so that it is implemented as soon as it is passed,” Gogoi said while speaking in Lok Sabha.
“It should not be linked with delimitation and should be implemented on the current strength of the Lok Sabha,” Gogoi said, adding, “Don’t bulldoze women’s reservation, bring a Saral (straightforward) bill. We oppose these bills.”
“You are again and again creating hurdles for women’s reservation. If you had listened to us in 2023, women’s reservation would have been implemented in 2024. We are urging that women’s reservation should not be linked with delimitation. If you do that, we will definitely support it. This bill is not for women’s reservation, but it is for delimitation through the backdoor. This is your intention,” he added.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi also opposed the introduction of the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, asserting that it violates federalism, which is the basic structure of the Indian Constitution.
While addressing the Lok Sabha, he said that the main goal of the Constitutional Amendment Bill introduced by Union Law Minister Arjun Meghwal is to “rule the south” and intends to “erase the representation of OBCs from the legislature.”
The amendment bills to operationalise the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam of 2023 were introduced in the Lok Sabha today, even as the Opposition pressed for a division against the move to introduce three Bills, instead of a voice vote.
The Constitutional Amendment bill’s implementation is tied to a population-based revision of constituencies based on the 2011 census. It proposes delimitation–a wider political overhaul–aiming to change the size and composition of state legislative assemblies and Lok Sabha.
The opposition to the proposed delimitation bill has been mounting for a long time and has escalated after the Centre’s recent approval of draft amendment bills to operationalise the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023.
The government plans to implement the women’s reservation ahead of the 2029 General Elections by bringing in an amendment to the 2023 Act and a constitutional amendment to delink the delimitation process from the 2027 census.
The government has proposed to increase the number of seats in the House to 850, with 815 seats proposed for the States and the remaining 35 for the Union Territories. The Lok Sabha has 543 seats at present. (ANI)