NEW DELHI, Apr 12:
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has conveyed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi that it would be “impossible” to have any useful discussion on the women’s quota law without details of delimitation and other aspects, and demanded that an all-party meeting be called on the matter after the current round of state polls are over on April 29.
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In his letter to PM Modi, Kharge said that calling Parliament’s special sitting amid state polls reinforces the belief that the Government is hurrying the implementation of women’s reservation law for “political mileage”.
Kharge reiterated the demand that an all-party meeting be called to discuss the delimitation issue, which is being linked to the amendments to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, after April 29.
Kharge’s letter came in response to a missive from the Prime Minister on the special sitting of Parliament for a discussion on the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam from April 16.
“I have just received your letter on the special session of Parliament for a discussion on the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam from the 16th of April,” the Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha said in his letter to Modi dated April 11.
“As you are aware, the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 was passed by Parliament unanimously in September 2023. At that time, on behalf of the Indian National Congress, I had demanded that this important law should become effective immediately,” Kharge said.
The Congress president pointed out that though in his letter, the PM has mentioned that there was broad consensus for its immediate implementation, he did not implement the same.
“It has been 30 months since then, and now this special sitting has been called without taking us into confidence and your Government is seeking our cooperation again without revealing any details on the delimitation going to be done. You will appreciate that without details of the delimitation and other aspects, it would be impossible to have any useful discussion on this historic law,” Kharge said.
“You mention in your letter that your Government has engaged in dialogue with political parties regarding this. However, I am pained to point out that this goes against the truth since all the Opposition parties have been urging the Government to call an all-party meeting after the current round of elections is over on April 29th, 2026 to discuss the Constitution amendments being contemplated,” he said.
The calling of a special sitting during the ongoing state elections only reinforces the Congress’ belief that the Government is hurrying the implementation of the law to gain “political mileage” rather than truly empower women, Kharge said.
“I am also pained to write that the past record of the Government in matters of public importance whether it is demonetisation, GST, census or even those pertaining to the federal structure like implementing Finance Commission recommendations and tax devolutions, does not inspire any confidence,” the Congress chief said. (PTI)
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