New Delhi: Women activists led by the All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA), affiliated to the CPI(ML) Liberation, staged a protest at the Jantar Mantar here on Friday, demanding immediate implementation of 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures, without linking it with the proposed delimitation exercise or the census.
The protest, organised under the banner of National Coalition for Women’s Reservation, was attended by AIPWA along with several other women’s organisations. According to organisers, women from different parts of Delhi and neighbouring states participated in the demonstration.
The protesters demanded the women’s reservation be implemented during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament for the existing seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies. They also urged the Centre not to make the reservation contingent upon the proposed delimitation and the census exercise.
‘BJP attempting to advance its communal politics’
Addressing the gathering, AIPWA national general secretary Meena Tiwari condemned the recent police action against protesting students in the capital, and accused the BJP-led centre of attempting to advance its “communal politics” by linking the implementation of the women’s quota with delimitation.
“The BJP government wants to advance its communal politics by linking the 33 per cent women’s reservation to delimitation. Women across the country are united against this, and the government will have to relent. The 33 per cent reservation for women must be implemented unconditionally during the current Monsoon Session,” Tiwari said.
Organisation claims several women’s names deleted from SIR
AIPWA national secretary Shweta Raj claimed large number of women’s names had been deleted during Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in various states, also accusing the Centre of delaying implementation of women’s reservation.
“On one hand, large number of women’s names have been deleted during the SIR process, and on the other, the BJP government is delaying implementation of 33 per cent reservation for women. By linking the women’s reservation law to delimitation, the BJP government wants to create communal polarisation across the country. Elections in Assam and Jammu and Kashmir are recent examples of this,” she alleged.
Raj said women’s organisations and opposition parties had opposed the move during the previous Parliament session, asserting that women across the country should unite to press for immediate implementation of the law.
Slogans raised demanding ‘immediate’ implementation ‘without conditions’
The protesters raised slogans demanding that the women’s quota be implemented “immediately” and “without conditions”, asserting that the constitutional amendment should be enforced on the existing strength of the Lok Sabha and state assemblies instead of waiting for the completion of the census and a fresh delimitation exercise.
The Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023, popularly known as the women’s reservation law, provides for reserving one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women. The law, however, states that the reservation will come into effect after a delimitation exercise is carried out following the first census conducted after the amendment.
Opposition parties and several women’s organisations have been demanding the reservation be implemented immediately without waiting for delimitation, while the government has maintained that the constitutional provisions have to be followed.
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