Bhubaneswar, April 20 (IANS) The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Monday criticized the BJP-led central government over the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill, accusing it of delay and spreading false propaganda on the issue.
Speaking at a press conference held here, Koraput MP Saptagiri Shankar Ulaka said he was present when the bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha and added that the government’s intentions were questionable from the beginning.
He pointed out that the bill was passed almost unanimously in 2023, with only two members opposing it, and it later became law.
However, he questioned the delay in issuing the gazette notification, which was issued only on April 16, 2026. He asked why it took three years for the central government to issue the notification.
He said the Congress party wanted 181 seats out of 543 Lok Sabha seats to be reserved for women, along with provisions for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes, and this should be implemented immediately from 2024.
The Koraput MP, however, also said that the government called a special session of Parliament amid the elections and proposed reservation in the expanded 850-seat assembly by linking it to the 2026 census and delimitation.
Ulaka further alleged that the delimitation process could reduce the representation of southern states on the basis of population and limit the allocation of seats to states like Assam and Jammu and Kashmir, where the BJP has no votes.
She accused the BJP government of spreading misinformation in the name of women’s reservation and asserted that the Congress has historically given priority to women empowerment – in positions ranging from President and Prime Minister to Governors, Chief Ministers and Panchayat leaders.
Ulaka also criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that in his recent national address, in his 29-minute speech, he mentioned Congress 59 times and TMC 10 times, which according to him shows the helplessness and weakness of the Prime Minister.
He questioned whether the Election Commission had taken note of such comments during the ongoing elections, and also criticized the Prime Minister’s silence on important issues like Manipur.
–IANS
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