New Delhi, Apr 10:
The Congress on Friday alleged that the Modi government’s “U-turn” on the implementation of the women’s reservation law is aimed at covering up his “monumental failures” in governance and “severe setbacks” to foreign policy.
The opposition party claimed that the PM owes an “apology” to the women of India as he did not accept the Congress’ demand of implementing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, from the 2024 polls itself.
“Actually he owes an apology to the women of India. When the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 was passed by Parliament in 2023 unanimously, the Indian National Congress had demanded its implementation from 2024 itself,” Ramesh said on X.
But this was not acceptable to the PM who made the reservation dependent on the delimitation and census exercises that he had failed to conduct and then dithered on for many years, the Congress leader said.
Ramesh claimed that 30 months later, facing defeat in the assembly elections, in spite of the Election Commission functioning as a subordinate office of the Union Home Ministry, the PM has changed his mind.
“He wants us to forget the Census and forget the census-based delimitation on the grounds that it will take too long. This is despite the fact that his Census Registrar has clarified that the results will be out by 2027. It’s a narrative that is based on lies and equivocation, all undertaken with the hope that the women of Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will flock to the BJP,” Ramesh said.
After all, the BJP has no worthwhile narrative on any other issue in these states, he added.
“This a U turn by the Modi Government, one that exposes its unwillingness to engage with the opposition and its total lack of planning,” he said.
Ramesh said Modi is already claiming credit for the U-turn as well.