Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress, claimed on Friday that the Women’s Reservation Bill is a “distraction tactic” used by the BJP-led government to divert attention away from demands like a caste census. He also claimed that it is unknown when the legislation will be put into effect. A day after the Bill was approved in the Special Session of Parliament, Rahul Gandhi called for the immediate release of the results of the previous caste census and the holding of a new one to count the population of OBCs and other underrepresented groups.
The Women’s Reservation Bill has the full support of the party, according to Rahul Gandhi, but its implementation date is uncertain because a census and delimitation exercise are needed first. He claimed that it ought to have been carried out right away.
“Women’s Reservation Bill is great but we received two footnotes that Census and Delimitation need to be done before that. Both of these will take years. The truth is that the reservation can be implemented today…This is not a complicated matter but the government doesn’t want to do that. The government has presented this before the country but it will be implemented 10 years from now. Nobody knows if this will even be implemented. This is a distraction tactic, diversion tactic,” Rahul Gandhi said.
“What is it that you are being diverted from? From OBC Census. I spoke of one institution in Parliament, that which runs the Government of India – Cabinet secretary and secretaries…I asked why only three out of 90 people belong to the OBC community?…I don’t understand that PM Modi speaks of OBCs every day but what did he do for them?” he asked.