The Congress will strongly push for including OBCs in the women`s quota in legislatures and raise this demand from various platforms prominently going forward.
This assertion was made at a meeting of the party`s National OBC Congress Advisory Council in which Rahul Gandhi, former chief ministers Bhupesh Baghel (Chhattisgarh) and Ashok Gehlot (Rajasthan), party general secretary Sachin Pilot and OBC Department chairperson Anil `JaiHind` Yadav participated. The meeting was held at the party headquarters here.
Congress leaders stressed that earlier many institutions cited lack of data on OBCs but with the caste census being carried out, empirical data would be available and they should be provided their share in various sectors on the basis of that.
Sources said the leaders pointed out that though it has been the Congress` consistent stand and was articulated by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge in Parliament in 2023 that OBCs must be given quota in the women`s reservation implementation, this narrative needs to be strongly pushed and the demand reiterated.
Last week, Gandhi had alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to do “hissa chori” (stealing someone`s rights) of the OBCs in the garb of amendments to the women`s reservation law as well as attempt a “power grab” through delimitation and gerrymandering, both of which, he claimed, were “anti-national” activities.
The Congress had also alleged that the Modi government wants to “shelve” the caste census as the RSS-BJP have a “Manuvadi mindset” and they know that if the data from that census comes by 2027, there will be pressure on them to provide reservation to OBC women in Parliament as well.
The Congress` meeting comes days after the government`s Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to implement women`s quota and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 was defeated in the Lower House on April 17. While 298 members voted in support of the Bill, 230 MPs voted against it. The Bill was defeated as it failed to secure a two-thirds majority or 352 votes .
The Bill proposed to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 from the current 543 to “operationalise” the women`s reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census. Seats were also to be increased in assemblies of states and Union territories to accommodate a 33 per cent reservation for women.
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