Thiruvananthapuram, Apr 19 (PTI) Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Sunday alleged that the Congress-led INDIA bloc had “betrayed” the country by opposing amendments to the Women’s Reservation Bill, and claimed that such deception has long been part of the party’s legacy.
Addressing a press conference, the Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, said the opposition alliance had “denied justice” to women by attempting to stall the reservation measure.
He alleged that the Congress had a “history of undermining” women’s rights, citing the Shah Bano case, where the party, he claimed, brought in legislation to overturn a Supreme Court verdict and deny justice to Muslim women.
The case refers to a criminal case in which the Supreme Court of India, in 1985, ordered that Shah Bano Begum, a resident of Indore, be provided maintenance by her husband, Mohd Ahmed Khan, following their divorce.
Following the judgment, the Congress government passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986, which restricted the right of Muslim divorcees to seek maintenance from their husbands.
“Congress is spreading ‘misinformation’ that delimitation would reduce the number of parliamentary seats in southern states. The Centre intends to increase the total number of seats by 50 per cent,” he said, adding that the representation of southern states in the Lok Sabha would marginally rise from 23.76 per cent to around 24 per cent after the Bill’s implementation.
Joshi claimed that Congress leader K C Venugopal had demanded that such provisions be included in the Bill and that the government had agreed, but the party was now concealing these facts and misleading the public.
Tracing the history of the Women’s Reservation Bill, he said that even when it was first introduced in 1996 under then Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, the Congress did not extend full support.
“The successive governments led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1998 and 1999 also did not receive Congress backing for the Bill,” he said.
He further said that although the UPA government in 2008 introduced the Bill and it was passed in the Rajya Sabha with BJP support, the Congress did not take steps to pass it in the Lok Sabha and enact it into law, despite the BJP’s continued support until 2014.
Accusing the Congress of neglecting backward communities, Joshi said the party failed to implement the recommendations of the Kaka Kalelkar Commission and the Mandal Commission, which were aimed at the upliftment of Other Backward Classes.
He also referred to speeches by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi opposing the Mandal Commission and alleged that the Congress had historically resisted reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
Joshi said the implementation of women’s reservation required delimitation to determine which constituencies would be reserved, a process carried out by the Delimitation Commission.
He also took a swipe at the Congress and the CPI(M) in Kerala, alleging that while they appear to oppose each other politically in the state, they act in tandem in Delhi, and described their stance on the Bill as “double standards”.
BJP state vice-president R. Sreelakha, Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Deputy Mayor Asha Nair, BJP state secretary M P Anjana, Mahila Morcha state general secretary R C Beena, and BJP state committee member Prof V T Rama were also present at the press conference. PTI TBA SSK
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