Women Congress workers staged a protest in New Delhi on Saturday, demanding that the BJP-led Union government immediately implement the Women’s Reservation Bill based on the present strength of the Lok Sabha.
The demonstration came after the constitutional amendment bill on women’s reservation was recently defeated in Parliament. In a televised address to the nation a day earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the bill failed due to opposition parties including the Congress, DMK and Trinamool Congress, adding that women would not forgive them.
Rejecting that claim, Congress leaders and workers held a march from the Congress office to the BJP office in Delhi. The rally was led by Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav.
Senior Congress leader and general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the party had urged, when the bill was passed in 2023, that it should be implemented using the current Lok Sabha framework, but the demand was ignored. He questioned why the Centre moved after “30 months of silence” and alleged that the government was deliberately delaying implementation despite broad opposition support.
Ramesh said that if the government was genuinely committed to women’s welfare, it should implement reservation within the existing 543 constituencies without further delay.
