Women’s bill will give reservation only to ‘savarna women’: Owaisi

New Delhi: AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday opposed the women’s reservation bill saying it would provide reservation only to “savarna women”, and questioned why OBC and Muslim women who have even lesser representation in Parliament are not being given any quota.

“I oppose this legislation.... The justification that is being given for the bill is that more women will get elected to Parliament. If that is the justification, why that justification is not being extended to the OBC and Muslim women whose representation in this august House is minimal,” Owaisi said.

“We know Muslim women are seven per cent of the population, but in this Lok Sabha their representation stands at only 0.7 per cent,” he said.

Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced the Constitution amendment bill which seeks to reserve 33 per cent seats in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies for women in the Lower House of Parliament on Wednesday.

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

Speaking on the bill, Owaisi said, “This Modi government wants to increase representation for savarna women. They don’t want representation for OBC women and Muslim women. There have been 690 women MPs elected to Lok Sabha and only 25 of them have come from the Muslim community.”

“I hear (that) reservation cannot be given on religious grounds? What is the 1950 presidential order? You are deceiving Muslim women by denying them quota within this reservation,” he said.

The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order of 1950 recognised only Hindus as SCs. Amendments were done in 1956 and 1990 to include Sikh Dalits, and later Buddhist Dalits.

Owaisi said Muslim women face dual discrimination and accused the ruling BJP of denying Muslim and OBC women their due share.

“This bill will deny OBCs their fair share. It will close the door on Muslim representation,” he said. He alleged that the bill was a “deception bill” and referred to the grant of remission to the convicts in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case in Gujarat. 

Stalin dubs women’s bill ‘poll gimmick’

DMK President M K Stalin dubbed the Women’s Reservation Bill in its current form a “poll gimmick” as it would come into force only after a delimitation exercise on the basis of a yet-to-be held census.

Stalin stressed on the importance of ensuring that there is a quota for women of the Backward Classes and also demanded that the Centre assure the people of Tamil Nadu and the whole of south India that the delimitation exercise would do no harm to the states that have managed to control their population.

“Delimitation is like a Sword of Damocles hanging over the head of Tamil Nadu and south India. The political conspiracy to lower the political representation of south India must be outmanoeuvred.”

In a statement here, Stalin referred to delimitation and said that the effort to betray “politically vigilant Tamil Nadu” should be nipped in the bud.

Dubbing the Women’s Bill a poll gimmick triggered by the prospect of electoral defeat, the DMK chief said it is a strange trick to adopt a bill now for something that is said to come into force in 2029 following the delimitation exercise on the basis of the yet-to-be-held census, for which there is also no guarantee on when it would be held.

The DMK president demanded to know why the Centre has not shown the same interest in passing the Women’s Bill, the way it passed the bills to abrogate Article 370 and to bring in 10 per cent Economically Weaker Sections quota. (PTI)