New Delhi: The Congress party Friday stayed away from a protest organised by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) leader K. Kavitha at Jantar Mantar in Delhi even as about 15 other political parties responded to her invite.
The other absentee was the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United), which along with the Congress, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other allies is in power in Bihar.
The “one-day hunger strike” was organised by Kavitha under the banner of her NGO Bharat Jagriti, demanding that the Women’s Reservation Bill be passed in Parliament.
Eighteen opposition parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the Congress, as well as political leaders such as Independent MP Kapil Sibal were invited to join Kavitha in the protest. While about 15 parties sent their representatives to the protest site, others welcomed Kavitha’s initiative.
A day before her sit-in, Kavitha had hailed former Congress president Sonia Gandhi for getting the Bill passed by the Rajya Sabha during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) rule.
“I salute Madam Sonia Gandhi for having backed the Women’s Reservation Bill despite leading a coalition government at the Centre,” she said, adding that she’d sent an invitation to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal.
The Congress, however, did not show up for the sit in even though it steered clear of criticising the protest.
In a statement, Congress general secretary and MP Jairam Ramesh asked what’s stopping the Bill from being revived.
“The landmark Women’s Reservation Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha on 9th March 2010, ENTIRELY due to the efforts of the Congress leadership. But it could not find support in Lok Sabha. The Bill has not lapsed. It is alive and pending. What has stopped it from being revived?” Ramesh asked.
Sources in the Congress pointed out that even though Kavitha’s protest was issue-based, support for the BRS leader would be “imprudent” given that the party was its main opposition in Telangana.
Congress state chief Revanth Reddy has embarked on a state-wide yatra to promote its ‘Haath Se Haath Jodo Abhiyaan’, which has been attended by the senior leadership. Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel took part in the yatra Thursday.
“Why should we take part in her protest? We are spewing venom against BRS in Telangana everyday,” said a senior Congress leader, recently back from Telangana.
“She’s doing it to divert from the ED case,” the leader added, referring to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Kavitha for questioning in the Delhi excise policy case.
The JD(U), too, didn’t send a representative, nor has it issued a statement welcoming Kavitha’s protest.
In January, Telangana chief minister and BRS president K. Chandrasekhar (KCR) held a massive public meeting in Khammam where opposition leaders had joined him. Nitish was reportedly not invited for this mega opposition meet. Neither was the Congress.
Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan (CPI-M), Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann (AAP), Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Communist Party India general secretary D. Raja were among the opposition bigwigs to attend the meeting in Telangana.
The event was seen as a move by KCR to create a non-Congress, non-BJP federal front for the elections. The Congress has said earlier that any such front will only strengthen the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In the same context, the party has been unrelenting in its condemnation towards anti-BJP regional parties including the BRS, the TMC and the AAP.
On Friday, political parties like the TMC did not send a representative either, but in her closing speech, Kavitha said that they’d written to her expressing support. Others including the RJD, the SP, the CPI, the National Conference, the Nationalist Congress Party, and the Shiromani Akali Dal sent their representatives. The AAP was represented by its Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, while Sitaram Yechury of the CPI(M) inaugurated the event.
“Today the issue is not about Kavitha or the state. This is the country’s issue. How can you grow if you keep half of its population outside?” Kavitha said, during the concluding ceremony of the protest.
“I request Madam President to take up the issue. Today, we have taken signatures from representatives across political parties and organisations in support of the movement, and take it to her,” she added.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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