Women's reservation is yet another empty promise by the Modi government: MPCC women's wing president

Pic/Maharashtra Congress

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) women's wing president Sandhya Savvalakhe on Monday said that the women's reservation bill is yet another empty promise by the Modi government.

"So far, all the announcements made by the Narendra Modi government have turned out to be empty promises. Except for their industrialist friends, no one has benefitted from the schemes they have announced. The declaration made by the Modi government to give reservations to women is yet another mere slogan. Due to the census and delimitation hurdles, women will not get reservation for many years to come, which is a betrayal of the entire women's community. If Modi has a genuine desire to provide reservations to women, he should remove these hurdles and reservation must be given in the upcoming assembly elections in the five states," said MPCC women's wing president Sandhya Savvalakhe.

While addressing a press conference at Tilak Bhavan, she said that the Congress party has always provided women with equal opportunities as compared to men.

"The Congress party gave the country its first female Prime Minister, first female President, and first female Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi took the revolutionary decision of granting 33 per cent reservation to women in local self-government institutions. Subsequently, Sonia Gandhi, during the UPA government's tenure, got the Women's Reservation Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha. Over the past nine years, Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi consistently advocated for women's reservation. Due to their relentless efforts, the Modi government felt compelled to consider women's reservation. The Women's Reservation Bill was unanimously passed in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, and all political parties, including the Congress party, supported the reservation. Hence, from the day this law was passed by the parliament, there should have been no delay in providing reservation to women. However, the Modi government doesn't truly wish to provide reservation to women, and hence, they have set hurdles in the law regarding the census and delimitation, ensuring that women will not get a reservation for at least the next 10-15 years," Sandhya Savvalakhe said.

She further said that due to the policies of the Modi government, inflation has drastically increased in the country over the last nine years.

"There has been a significant rise in atrocities against women in states governed by the BJP. BJP's representatives and officials are committing atrocities against women, and the BJP-led governments are protecting these perpetrators. As a result, women across the country are unhappy with the BJP. Fearing backlash in the upcoming elections in five states, the Modi government has made a hollow promise of giving women reservations. The census that was supposed to happen in 2021 has not yet taken place. There's no likelihood of it happening this year. There are elections in 2024, so the census might not be conducted next year either. It is uncertain when it will be conducted. Subsequently, the constituency delimitation commission will be established, its recommendations will be awaited, and hearings will be held. It's unknown how many years this will take, so it's unclear when the reservation will be implemented. This is a betrayal of millions of women in the country. Narendra Modi is responsible for robbing the rights of women," said Sandhya Savvalakhe.