Sonitpur Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hits out at Opposition over Women’s Reservation Bill

OUR CORRESPONDENT

TEZPUR: Intensifying its attack on Opposition parties, the Sonitpur district unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strongly condemned what it termed as a ‘regressive and anti-women stance’ against the proposed Nari Shakti Vandan Amendment Bill, aimed at ensuring greater political representation for women.

Speaking at a press conference, district BJP President Madhusmita Hazarika said that the meeting was convened to expose the opposition’s ‘double standards’ on women’s empowerment. She asserted that while Opposition leaders publicly advocated for women’s rights, their resistance to the Bill revealed a contradictory political approach.

Member of Parliament Ranjit Dutta later addressed the media, detailing the developments in Parliament and accusing the Opposition of deliberately disrupting proceedings to stall the legislation.

Dutta informed that the Bill was taken up for extensive discussion on April 16, 17, and April 18, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. He noted that the debate lasted for more than 18 hours, reflecting the significance of the legislation.

Highlighting the broader context, the MP said that the delay in the 2021 Census due to the pandemic had pushed the exercise to 2026, with Assam scheduled to begin enumeration on August 2. He emphasized that rapidly increasing voter populations in constituencies such as Dhubri and Guwahati have made effective representation challenging, thereby necessitating a fresh delimitation process following the census.

Criticizing the Opposition bloc, Dutta alleged that the Bill proposing 33 percent reservation for women in legislative bodies failed to pass due to a lack of support from the INDIA alliance. He claimed that the reaction of certain Opposition leaders to the Bill’s setback raised serious questions about their commitment to women’s political empowerment.

He further stated that the government had shown flexibility by agreeing to consider a caste-based census after the completion of the general census, yet the opposition remained unwilling to cooperate.

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