Rahul Gandhi, Rijiju Spar on Women’s Reservation Implementation

• Rahul Gandhi and Kiren Rijiju traded barbs over women’s reservation.
• Rijiju urged Congress to back the Women’s Reservation Bill.
• Rahul said Congress had already supported the law unanimously.
• Congress renewed demand for immediate implementation without delimitation.

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, Aug 8: Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju engaged in a sharp exchange on social media on Saturday over the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act, 2023.

The political sparring began after Rahul Gandhi released a video highlighting the need to empower women and ensure they have greater freedom to participate in all spheres of society.

Responding on X, Kiren Rijiju described Gandhi’s remarks as a “positive message” and suggested that the Congress had undergone a “change of heart” on women’s issues.

“This seems to be a positive message from the Congress Party. There’s a visible change of heart in Shri Rahul Gandhi Ji about women. Now, I hope Congress Party will support the Women’s Reservation Bill unconditionally,” Rijiju posted.

Rahul Gandhi responded by asserting that the Women’s Reservation Bill had already been passed unanimously in Parliament in 2023 with Congress’ full support.

“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 wrote.

Questioning the delay in its implementation, the Congress leader asked why the government was linking the law with the proposed delimitation exercise.

“The question is, why has it still not been implemented even after three years, and why do you now want to unnecessarily link it to delimitation? Implement the 2023 law. Without any conditions,” he said.

The exchange comes amid continuing differences between the Centre and Opposition parties over the implementation of the constitutional amendment providing 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies.

The government has maintained that the reservation will come into effect after the next delimitation exercise, while the Congress and several Opposition parties have demanded that the quota be implemented without waiting for the redrawing of parliamentary constituencies.

In his video message, Rahul Gandhi argued that India’s progress depends on women being able to express themselves freely and participate equally in public life.

He said India’s women are the country’s “biggest asset” and called for greater freedom for women in education, workplaces, politics and within families, asserting that the country’s development would remain incomplete without their full participation.