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New Delhi, April 13. Congress Parliamentary Party President and Rajya Sabha member Sonia Gandhi on Monday raised serious questions about the proposed special session of the Central Government and the bills to it. He said that the real issue at this time is not women’s reservation but delimitation, which he described as ‘extremely dangerous’ and an ‘attack on the Constitution’. He alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to postpone and derail the caste census. According to him, the manner and time at which the special session of Parliament is being called raises questions on the intentions of the government.

In her article published in a newspaper, Sonia Gandhi wrote that the Prime Minister is seeking support from the opposition parties for the bills which the government wants to hastily pass in the special session during the peak of the election campaign in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. He said that there could be only one reason behind this extraordinary haste. That is to take political advantage and put the opposition in a defensive position. Sonia Gandhi said that as usual the Prime Minister is not telling the whole truth. He clarified that the opposition had never demanded to link women’s reservation with the census, rather the opposition wanted it to be implemented from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

Referring to the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, 2023, he said that the Parliament had passed it unanimously during the special session in September 2023. Under this law, Article 334-A was added to the Constitution, in which provision for one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and Assembly has been made. However, a condition was kept for its implementation after the next census and the delimitation based on it. Sonia Gandhi said that this condition was not the demand of the opposition. He told that Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge had said that women’s reservation should be implemented from 2024 elections only but the government did not accept it.

He raised the question that now when the government is indicating that by amending Article 334-A, women’s reservation can be implemented from 2029, then why did it take 30 months? And why couldn’t an all-party meeting be called after waiting for a few weeks? Sonia Gandhi also said that opposition leaders had written to the Central Government thrice requesting to call an all-party meeting after the last phase of elections in West Bengal on April 29, so that the government’s proposals could be discussed in detail. However, the government rejected this reasonable demand.

Instead, the Prime Minister is pushing his point forward by writing articles, appealing to political parties and organizing conferences, which reflects a ‘one-sided attitude’ and ‘my wish or nothing’ style of functioning, he said. Emphasizing the need for more dialogue and consensus-based process, Sonia Gandhi cited the example of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments made in 1993. He said that extensive discussions were held for about five years before giving reservation to women in Panchayats and municipal bodies through these amendments. He gave the credit for this to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

He said that today about 15 lakh women representatives are working in local bodies in the country, which is more than 40 percent of the total. Nari Shakti Vandan Act stands on this strong foundation. Sonia Gandhi also cornered the government regarding the delay in census. He said that the census to be held in 2021 was postponed, due to which more than 10 crore people were deprived of the benefits under the National Food Security Act, 2013. This law is the foundation stone of the Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.

He said that the census process has now been started after a delay of five years. In such a situation, the government’s haste regarding the 2027 census is beyond comprehension. The government is calling it a ‘digital census’ and according to officials, most of its data will be available only in 2027. In such a situation, the arguments being given behind the rush to call a special session and conduct delimitation are ‘hollow’. Sonia Gandhi also cornered the government on the issue of caste census. He said that about a year ago, the Prime Minister had announced that caste-based enumeration will also be done in the 2027 census, whereas earlier the government had opposed it by filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court and giving a statement in the Parliament.

He reminded that the Prime Minister had described the Congress leaders demanding caste census as suffering from ‘urban Naxal mentality’. He said that now the 2027 census is going to collect caste based data to strengthen social justice and empowerment. He said that states like Bihar and Telangana completed the caste survey in just six months, which makes it clear that there is no concrete reason for delay in it. According to him, it is wrong to say that the caste census will delay the 2027 census, rather the real intention of the government is to postpone it further.

Regarding the special session, he said that till now the MPs have not even been told what proposals the government is going to bring in this session. He expressed apprehension that a new formula could be brought regarding delimitation. He said delimitation should always happen after the census and if the number of Lok Sabha seats is increased, it should be balanced not only mathematically but also politically. There should be no injustice to the states and smaller states which are ahead in family planning.

He said that there is a provision of ‘reservation within reservation’ in the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, under which one-third of the seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will be reserved for women. He also said that the opposition in the Rajya Sabha had demanded a similar provision for Other Backward Class (OBC) women. He said that the monsoon session of Parliament is proposed in mid-July and till then there is enough time for the government to discuss with all the parties and reach a broad consensus.

He said, “If the government calls an all-party meeting after April 29 to discuss the proposals, allow public debate and then brings the Constitution Amendment Bill in the monsoon session, it will not break the ice.” In conclusion, he said that bringing such big and far-reaching changes in such a hurry is not only wrong, but it is also against democratic values.