Rahul Gandhi vs Kiren Rijiju in fiery verbal duel over women's quota bill
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Union Minister Kiren Rijiju were locked in a fiery war of words on Saturday over the women's reservation bill, amid
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and Union Minister Kiren Rijiju were locked in a fiery war of words on Saturday over the women's reservation bill, amid a stalemate over the Centre's move to link it to the proposed delimitation exercise. The exchange began after Rijiju commented on a video of Rahul speaking about women's freedom of expression and challenged him to support the women's quota bill. Rahul hit back, questioning why the legislation was being unnecessarily linked to delimitation. Read Full Story With the Monsoon session of Parliament virtually stalled since July 20, Rijiju has reached out to Rahul a couple of times over the past week regarding the passage of the constitution amendment bill linked to delimitation and women's reservation. Being a constitution amendment bill, it would require a two-thirds majority in Parliament - numbers the NDA doesn't have on its own.
Hence, the outreach. KIREN RIJIJU, RAHUL GANDHI TRADE BARBS Rijiju again appealed to Rahul on Saturday. He found perfect timing. Sharing a video of Rahul calling for greater freedom of expression for women, the minister said there appeared to be a "visible change of heart" in the Leader of the Opposition (LoP). "This seems to be a positive message from the Congress. There's a visible change of heart in Rahul Gandhi about women," Rijiju, the parliamentary affairs minister, said. He also called on the Congress to support the women's reservation bill "unconditionally". Within two hours, came Rahul's response. The Congress MP reminded Rijiju that the women's reservation bill had already been passed in 2023 with the Congress's support. "The bill has already been passed unanimously, with the full support of the Congress," Rahul tweeted.
"The question is, why has it still not been implemented even after three years, and why do you now want to unnecessarily link it to delimitation?" he further said. Rahul demanded that the Centre implement the 2023 law "without any conditions". WOMEN'S QUOTA AND DELIMITATION The women's reservation bill, or the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, was passed by both Houses of Parliament in 2023. It seeks to reserve 33% of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. However, the 2023 Act tied its rollout to a future census (a fresh exercise has begun this year). It would have pushed its implementation past 2034. The new bill seeks to use the 2011 Census to enable execution of women's reservation before the 2029 Lok Sabha polls. However, the government's move to link the bill to a delimitation exercise to redraw parliamentary constituencies has led to a deadlock.
The BriefWire