Rahul Gandhi Hits Back at BJP Over Women’s Quota: ‘Implement the 2023 Law… Without Any Conditions’

New Delhi: The political battle over women’s reservation has once again intensified, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi taking a direct swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the delay in implementing the 2023 women’s quota law.

Responding to Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, Gandhi argued that the Women’s Reservation Bill, 2023 had already received unanimous parliamentary approval and questioned why its implementation was now being linked to delimitation.

“Mr Rijiju, who would know better than you, as the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs — that the Women’s Reservation Bill 2023 has already been passed unanimously, with the full support of the Congress,” Gandhi said in a post on X.

He then questioned the government over the delay, asking why the law had not been implemented nearly three years after its passage.

“Implement the 2023 law. Without any conditions,” Gandhi added.

Rijiju Challenges Congress

The exchange began after Kiren Rijiju responded to a video featuring Rahul Gandhi discussing women’s empowerment and the need for greater freedom and political participation for women.

Rijiju described Gandhi’s remarks as a potentially positive change in the Congress party’s position and urged the opposition party to support the Women’s Reservation Bill “unconditionally.”

Gandhi, however, pushed back by arguing that the legislation had already been passed and that the focus should now be on putting it into effect rather than attaching additional conditions.

ALSO READ : ‘PM Enjoys Playing the Victim Card’: Jairam Ramesh Demands Modi’s Apology Over NEET, Ram Mandir Trust Row and Demonetisation

What Is the Women’s Reservation Law?

The Women’s Reservation Act, 2023, provides for reserving one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies.

However, its implementation is linked to the completion of a delimitation exercise following the relevant census process. This has become one of the central points of disagreement between the government and the opposition.

The issue has gained renewed political attention amid discussions around the future delimitation of parliamentary constituencies.

The Delimitation Battle

The government had earlier introduced a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at increasing the ceiling on Lok Sabha seats and enabling constituency boundaries to be redrawn using the 2011 Census.

The proposal failed to secure the required two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha.

The development subsequently fuelled speculation that the government could bring back a similar proposal during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament, if it has sufficient numbers to pass the constitutional amendment.

For the Congress, however, the immediate demand is straightforward: implement the women’s reservation law already passed by Parliament rather than making its implementation dependent on another legislative exercise.

With both sides now publicly exchanging arguments over the issue, women’s political representation and delimitation could become important flashpoints in the continuing Centre-opposition battle.