Census, delimitation soon after 2024 polls, says Amit Shah

Home Minister Amit Shah asserted on Wednesday that census and delimitation will begin soon after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and appealed to the Opposition for unanimous support to the Women's Reservation Bill, saying shortcomings, if any, can be rectified later.

In his intervention during the debate in Lok Sabha on the bill for reserving one-third of seats in the Lower House and state assemblies for women, he pushed back against the Opposition's criticism for not including an OBC sub-quota, asserting that his party has given more representation to the community than those claiming to speak for them.

He indicated that reservation for women will come into force after the 2029 Lok Sabha polls as he sought the support from the bill's critics in the House, saying the law will not come into force any earlier if they do not back the proposed legislation.

Support the bill as it will then guarantee reservation for women and the new government can make changes as it deems fit, Shah said and took on Rahul Gandhi after the Congress leader sought to put the government on the defensive over the issue of Other Backward Classes' representation.

"Our fellow MP's understanding is that (government) secretaries run the country. In my understanding, government runs the country," he said, adding that it is the Union Cabinet and Parliament which frame policies.

It is one thing to read here from chit given by some NGO but it is Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has sincerely worked for the welfare of backward communities, the home minister said in a jibe at Gandhi who had targeted the government by claiming that only three of its 90 secretaries are from the OBC category, a large voting segment.

Gandhi also echoed the demand of many opposition leaders that the bill should have a provision for OBC sub-quota as well.

Shah noted that parliamentary and assembly seats are currently divided into three categories - General, and those reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes - and one-third of seats has been reserved for women in each of them under this bill.

Nearly 29 per cent or 85 BJP MPs, 29 Union ministers, and 365 of its 1,358 MLAs, which is over 27 per cent, are from the OBC category, he said, adding that over 40 per cent of its MLCs are also from the same group.

One can make unserious election promises and deliver political speeches but the truth is different, he said. Those now singing the OBC tune never made an OBC member a prime minister and it is only the BJP which did so, he said, in a reference to Modi's backward caste background.

In a dig at the opposition over many of its members' demand for an immediate rollout of the women's quota, he said if constituencies like Wayanad, represented by Gandhi, and Hyderabad, represented by Asaduddin Owaisi, come under the reserved category in any exercise taken by the government, then the Modi dispensation will be accused of doing politics.

The delimitation commission, which is headed by a retired Supreme Court judge, will undertake this exercise in an open and transparent way, he said.

"Census and delimitation will happen immediately after the (2024) polls," Shah said, expressing confidence that women parliamentarians will soon occupy one-third seats in the House.

"Let us rise above partisan politics to give women the respect they deserve. Earlier they have been left disappointed four times by Parliament. Let this bill be passed unanimously," he said.

Four different bills to enact women quota in legislatures were brought to Parliament at different points of time from 1996 to 2010 but could not be passed.

"When Modi ji was first elected the leader of the House in 2014, he said in Parliament that his government belonged to the poor, the Dalits, tribals, OBCs and women and he has today fulfilled all the promises he made," Shah asserted.

To a question from BJD member Bhartruhari Mahtab that the current bill does not have state-specific provision for quota like in the 2010 bill, he said the delimitation commission can look into it.

He said the passage of the women's reservation bill will mark the start of a new era, and recalled that Modi had presented the vision of women-led development at the recent G20 Summit.

The Modi government has been pushing for empowerment of women since the day it assumed office, he said, adding that their security, respect and equal participation have been its life force.

Over 70 per cent of bank accounts opened under the Jan Dhan scheme belong to women. They suffered the most due to lack of toilets in poor households and after the Modi government assumed office it built 11.72 crore toilets for them, he said.

The government gave LPG connections to 10 crore poor households, benefitting women the most, he said, noting that the duration of maternity leave was increased to 26 weeks by it.

Women's welfare may be a political and election issue for others but it is a matter of the recognition of their rights for the BJP, he said, citing several measures Modi took first as a leader in the BJP's organisation and then as Gujarat chief minister for their uplift.

Shah named a number of women, ranging from Goddesses to those belonging to fields of education, health and social reform, to highlight their prominent role in Indian history. In a jibe at the Congress, he then said some people do not have their roots in India and he will not want to say where their roots are.

According to the bill, it will come into effect after the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies to be carried out after the completion of the next population census.