NE NEWS BUREAU
CHENNAI, OCT 14
Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi vowed to fight for the implementation of the Women’s Reservation at a public meeting organized by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) under the title “Women’s Rights Conference’ in Chennai on Saturday.
LIVE: CPP Chairperson Smt. Sonia Gandhi ji & AICC General Secretary Smt. @priyankagandhi ji address the Women's Rights Conference in Chennai. https://t.co/DUNoNWpQgs
— Congress (@INCIndia) October 14, 2023
She also announced that the INDIA alliance will urge the government to conduct a caste survey for the Bill to come into effect.
Addressing the meeting organized at the sprawling YMCA grounds at Nandanam, Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi said, “The Women’s Reservation Bill has been passed… but it still has a long way to come. And when the bill will be implemented is our question… We are going to fight for it till we don’t get it…”
Sonia Gandhi asserted that the INDIA alliance would fight for the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill passed recently by Parliament.
Sonia Gandhi also asserted that it was the late Rajiv Gandhi who brought reservation for women in Panchayati Raj, the local self-governments which spurred an entirely new phenomenon of women leadership at the grassroots level.
“It was a vital stepping stone towards the reservation on a similar one thirds of seats in the legislative bodies which the Congress pioneered in Parliament and outside. Now the Women’s Reservation Bill has finally been passed due to “our relentless persistence and efforts; of all of us, not just the Congress.” However, “as we all know it is still a long way to come,” Sonia Gandhi said.
Sonia Gandhi was referring to the caste census and delimitation exercise without which the Women’s Reservation Bill could not come into effect.
Sonia Gandhi reminisced about the Opposition MPs’ discussions in Parliament regarding the timeframe of the Women’s Reservation Bill’s practical implementation, pondering whether it would take one, two, or three years.
“We have no idea,” Sonia Gandhi. She added that some men are happy, “we are not, we women are not.”
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also echoed the demands at the DMK meeting. “I demand the immediate implementation of the women’s reservation bill,” Priyanka Gandhi said.
