The 'Nari Shakti Vandan Bill', which gives 33 percent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, has been passed by both the houses of the Parliament. Now after getting approval from the President, women's reservation will become a law, but it will still take a long time to implement it. It is believed that the step taken by the Modi government to give one-third share to half the population was not taken just like that but was a well-thought-out strategy.
BJP had adopted a powerful strategy to attract 50 percent women voters through the reservation bill in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as well as to corner the opposition alliance INDIA. But, Congress not only implemented its age-old agenda with great care and strategy, but the party has also been successful in breaking the political maze of the Modi government by keeping the constituent parties of the INDIA alliance simple.
Conspiracy to create division in INDIA alliance
To stop Narendra Modi from achieving the hat-trick of power in 2024, 28 opposition parties including Congress have formed INDIA alliance. The opposition is planning to field a joint candidate against BJP on one seat. There may be a challenge for BJP in a one to one fight in 2024. This strategy of the opposition has proved politically beneficial in the recently held by-elections. In such a situation, political discussion had intensified that the election path of 2024 could be very difficult for BJP.
By playing the women's reservation bill in the special session of the Parliament, the Modi government had created a political structure to corner the opposition alliance INDIA including the Congress. The reason behind this was that the partner parties of the opposition alliance INDIA are many regional parties like RJD and SP, which have been opposing women's reservation for three decades. Due to this, this bill was still hanging in the balance. In such a situation, questions were being raised that the issue of women's reservation could create differences in the INDIA alliance. Janata Dal United (JDU) President Lalan Singh has also said that the government has brought Women's Reservation Bill to create divisions in the INDIA alliance, but its intentions will not succeed.
Competition to take credit on women's reservation bill
Political analyst Siddharth Kalhans says that the Modi government may have brought this bill for this very purpose. At this time, the intention behind suddenly giving reservation to women by BJP, which had kept silence for so many years, is for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Parties like Congress, Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), JDU have come together and formed INDIA alliance. Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party have been supporters of the Women's Reservation Bill since the beginning, while SP chief Akhilesh Yadav's father Mulayam Singh Yadav, Sharad Yadav and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav have been in opposition.
In 2010, during the tenure of the UPA government, this bill could not be passed in the Lok Sabha even after being passed in the Rajya Sabha. In such a situation, BJP might have expected that the INDIA alliance might disintegrate due to the introduction of the Women's Reservation Bill, but Congress maintained a better balance in the entire matter. While Sonia Gandhi tried to take credit for the Women's Reservation Bill by calling it her own bill, she also succeeded in keeping it simple by matching the tone of the allies of the opposition alliance. Not only this, the INDIA alliance was seen speaking in one voice on the issue of women's reservation.
OBC quota and caste census issue
The Women's Reservation Bill has also strengthened the unity of the constituent parties of the opposition alliance INDIA. On the one hand, Congress leaders including Sonia Gandhi to Rahul Gandhi supported women's reservation in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, while on the other hand they tried to fix the quota for the OBC community in the bill and also set the issue of caste census in the country. . Till now only parties like SP, RJD, JDU and DMK were vocal on OBC politics, but now Congress has also adopted it. In this way, the opposition alliance INDIA against BJP has got new strength.
Senior journalist Syed Qasim says that all the parties of INDIA alliance including Congress ruined the plans of BJP by supporting the Women's Reservation Bill. The Modi government had thought that there could be a split in the alliance over the Women's Reservation Bill, but Congress and the opposition alliance have benefited from it.
He says that Congress could not pass the Women's Reservation Bill during the 10 years of Manmohan Singh's government. This was the dream of Sonia Gandhi. In 2019, Congress had also promised women's reservation in its manifesto and when Modi government presented it, Congress's wish was fulfilled. He further says that from getting the approval from the Cabinet to getting it passed by both the Houses of Parliament, Congress took many strategic steps. When Congress made its dream come true, it was seen standing with the agenda of its constituents.
Even before the introduction of the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament, BJP strategists were feeling that there could be a fight in the INDIA alliance on this issue, but on the contrary, Congress has tried to set a political agenda against BJP by raising the issue of OBC. Congress and opposition leaders have made every effort to put the Modi government in the anti-OBC dock. Besides, the issue of caste census has also come up and the opposition alliance has expressed its intention to make it their political weapon in the 2024 elections. In this way, the politics of Kamandal vs Mandal can be seen once again?
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