Jammu, Apr 18 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Congress president Tariq Hameed Karra on Saturday demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resignation, citing the government’s failure to pass an “ill-conceived” Constitution amendment bill allegedly aimed at backdoor delimitation under the guise of women’s reservation.
Addressing a meeting of party workers at Block Bahu here, Karra said the women’s reservation bill had already been passed unanimously in 2023 but remains unimplemented, despite the Congress and other opposition parties demanding its enforcement from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“The entire opposition saw through the BJP government’s nefarious design behind the move and opposed it, leading to the government’s failure to push the bill through the House.
“Having failed to secure the required numbers, the prime minister has no moral right to continue in office and must step down,” the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) chief said.
He said the Congress has been a pioneer in women’s reservation, introducing a 33 per cent quota in Panchayati Raj institutions and passing the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha in 2013, though it could not be enacted then due to lack of support from the BJP.
He said the Congress later backed the unanimous passage of the bill in Parliament in 2023 and has been demanding its implementation.
“It was the BJP that denied women’s reservation in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on the pretext that delimitation would follow the completion of the ongoing Census and the quota would be implemented only by 2029,” Karra said.
The Congress leader questioned the government’s “U-turn”, alleging it was driven by an ulterior motive to dilute the representation of southern states, leverage the slogan of women’s reservation for electoral gains, and further delay the caste census.
Referring to the party’s campaign under ‘Hamari Riyasat Hamara Haq’, Karra said it is not a slogan but a mission of the Congress to fight and restore the rights of 1.40 crore people of Jammu and Kashmir.
He alleged that the government’s intent to delay the restoration of statehood had become evident, claiming it aimed to carry out delimitation while Jammu and Kashmir remained a Union Territory and fix the Assembly strength arbitrarily.
Karra said the Congress would continue to fight for the restoration of basic rights, dignity and statehood of Jammu and Kashmir, which he alleged were “arbitrarily, unilaterally and unconstitutionally” taken away by the Modi government in August 2019.
“Despite committing before the Supreme Court to restore statehood without delay, the government has neither fulfilled the promise nor implemented the court’s judgment, citing one pretext or another,” he said.
Karra urged party workers to closely monitor the revision of electoral rolls and the SIR exercise to ensure that no irregularities occur and that the rights of all genuine voters are protected. PTI TAS RHL
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