'Election Jumla': Congress Leader Adhir Ranjan Calls Reservation Bill BJP's 'Ploy' To Woo Women Voters

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury termed the Women’s Reservation Bill as a 'ploy' of the Bharatiya Janata Party to woo the women voters.

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Friday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party over the Women's Reservation Bill and termed it as a “ploy” of the BJP to woo the women voters. He also said that it is a “Election Jumla”. Chowdhury took to X and said, "The #WomenReservationBill2023 is nothing but a ploy of #BJP to woo the womenfolk of this country, who has prevented them from enacting this bill for last nearly 10 years!!! It is an ELECTION JUMLA only." He also said, "No body in the country knows when the census and delimitation will come into force."

On Thursday, the Rajya Sabha passed the long-pending bill granting 33 percent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies with 215 MPs voting in favour of the bill. The Upper House of Parliament underwent a day-long session discussing the 128th Constitution Amendment Bill, the Nari Shakti Vandan Bill.

As the Women's Reservation Bill got clearance, reactions poured in  from several MPs across party lines. Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia hailed the bill and said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has established the real foundation of women empowerment. "Today the real foundation of women empowerment has been established by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Today is a historic day for the country," Scindia said.

Congress MP KC Venugopal said that the party is happy but also demanded that the major amendments should be made to include OBC reservation. He also expressed his “disappointment” and said that the implementation should have been done for 2024 Lok Sabha elections but the central government denied it.  

"We are happy that the bill is passed but we have put two major amendments, first is to include OBC reservation, which the govt denied and second is to implement the bill immediately. Our demand was to do it for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which was also denied by the govt. This is a little disappointing," KC Venugopal said.

Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda reacted to the passage of the bill in Rajya Sabha and said, "The importance of this bill would have increased if it was implemented in this (2024 Lok Sabha) elections. We have no idea when the bill will be implemented...after census or delimitation? There were demands from the OBC community which the govt did not approve. We demand the bill to be implemented immediately."

JMM MP Mahua Maji said, "This is a historic moment. Everyone has supported this bill, no one was against this. We all wanted the bill to be implemented immediately and include OBC reservations as well."

Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan called the passage of the bill “historic”. "The bill has been passed in both House. This is a historic moment the women in our country. We demanded the bill to be implemented immediately and include OBC reservations as well," Ranjan said, as quoted by ANI.