The Congress on September 20 fielded a high powered line-up — including Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi and former party president Rahul Gandhi — to express the party’s support for the proposed constitutional amendment on reservation for women in legislatures, while also making a strong case for a caste census to be done, followed by reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SCs/STs) within the quota reserved for women.
They also advocated for the Constitution (128th Amendment) Bill, 2023, better known as the Women’s Reservation Bill, to be implemented immediately, rather than linking it to a delimitation exercise that cannot be held until after 2026.
‘Quota within quota’
Apart from the Congress, an array of MPs belonging to many other Opposition parties — including the Samajwadi Party (SP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) — also demanded an OBC quota within the proposed 33% reservation for women.
NCP MP Supriya Sule, SP MP Dimple Yadav, and BSP MP Sangeeta Azad were among those who said that, while they supported the Bill, the government should ensure quotas for OBCs. Janata Dal (United) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lalan added that if the government had such an intention, it would have started the caste census in 2021.
Congress changes stance
Interestingly, when the UPA government had introduced its Women’s Reservation Bill, which was passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010, there was no provision for any such quota either. The Bill was grounded in the Lok Sabha as the then-government could not persuade parties friendly to it to give up their demand for OBC quotas. The Congress has since changed its own stance, and the INDIA bloc parties had demanded a caste census in their resolution at the Opposition alliance’s meeting in Bengaluru in July.
Ms. Gandhi, who initiated the debate on the Bill from the Opposition’s side, said that along with the immediate implementation of the reservations for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, provision should be made for the reservation of SC, ST, and OBC women after conducting a caste census.
“It is the demand of the Indian National Congress that the Bill be immediately implemented... But along with that, provision should be made for the reservation of SC, ST, OBC women after conducting a caste census,” she said.
‘Indian women still waiting’
Ms. Gandhi said it was the dream of her late husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi to bring in reservations for women; his government had tried to start that process with reservations in local bodies, through a Bill which was defeated in the Rajya Sabha by seven votes in 1989. “Rajiv Gandhi’s dream is only half fulfilled. It will be fulfilled with the passage of this Bill,” she said.
However, she also expressed concern about the open-ended question of just when the Bill will turn into a law that can be implemented, as it had been linked to the delimitation exercise which is frozen till 2026, and the latest census, which has been delayed. “For the last 13 years, Indian women are waiting for their political responsibilities, and now they are being asked to wait for a few more years — two years, four years, six years, eight years,” said Ms. Gandhi.
Transfer of power
Mr. Gandhi also made a sharp intervention on the demand for a caste census, to be followed by a provision of caste quotas within the reservations being given to women. The discussion on this Bill, he said, was about a continuation of the transfer of power to the people that had started with Independence and universal suffrage.
Pointing to the new Parliament building, Mr. Gandhi asked why the President of India was not visible in the ceremonies surrounding the legislature’s transfer to the new House. “President of India is a tribal and a woman, it would have been befitting if she had been visible in this transfer of Houses,” he said.
‘Distraction for the BJP’
Mr. Gandhi alleged that the Bill was simply a distraction for the BJP when it found itself in difficulties, like the one created by the united demand of the INDIA bloc parties for a caste census. To sharpen his point on the need for OBC reservations following a caste census, he noted that out of 90 Secretaries to the Government of India, who manage the “core of India”, only three are OBCs, and they control just 5% of the country’s budget.
“This discussion is about the transfer of power, to women and to OBCs. It is an insult and shame to the OBC community and brings us to the demand for a caste census,” he said, adding that the government should undertake a census or make public the Socio-Economic Caste Census done by the UPA government. “If you don’t do it, then we will,” he said.
