BJP attacks Congress over women’s quota stand, holds protest in Mumbai

The Bharatiya Janata Partys BJPrsquos Mumbai unit on Saturday accused the Congress and other opposition parties of being ldquoagainst womenrsquos empowermentrdquo over their stand on the implementation of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam and staged a protest in the city news agency PTI reportedIn a post on X BJP Mumbai said opposition to the Womenrsquos Reservation Act reflected the Congressrsquo ldquoreluctance to empower womenrdquo alleging that it was attempting to delay implementation of the law by opposing the delimitation process linked to the legislation 2026 ldquordquo mdash 1996 hellip pictwittercomzq2mBbzD4cmdash BJP Mumbai BJP4Mumbai April 17 2026BJP Mumbai chief and legislator Ameet Satam said the Congress leadership was uncomfortable with wider participation of women in decisionmaking a day after a bill to implement 33 per cent womenrsquos reservation in legislatures in 2029 was defeated in the Lok SabhaldquoThe Gandhi family which benefited from key constitutional posts for so many years cannot accept other women getting empowered Their discomfort was visible when women from humble backgrounds started participating in decisionmaking processesrdquo he said on X hellip pictwittercomQTPXdgQ0fDmdash Ameet Satam AmeetSatam April 18 2026BJP Member of Legislative Assembly MLA Manisha Chaudhary led a protest in Dahisar where party workers raised slogans against the Congress and other opposition leadersWomen protesters also blackened flex banners carrying photographs of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav Aam Aadmi Party AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal Nationalist Congress Party SP chief Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav ThackerayBJP claims Congress delayed womenrsquos reservation bill for decadesIn a statement the BJPrsquos city unit accused the Congress of turning the womenrsquos reservation bill into a ldquopolitical pawnrdquo for 27 years alleging repeated delays obstruction and lack of political will despite being in power for long periodsIt claimed that even now by opposing the delimitation exercise linked to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam the Congress was effectively ensuring that womenrsquos reservation would not be implemented before the 2029 general electionsldquoThis is not a coincidence but a patternrdquo the party said claiming what it described as a timeline of delays and obstaclesThe BJP alleged that in 1996 when the bill was introduced during the United Front government led by H D Deve Gowda the Congress pushed for it to be referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee delaying the process at a crucial stage and later withdrew support to the government leading to its fall and the lapse of the billDuring the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee between 1998 and 2004 the BJP claimed repeated attempts were made to pass the bill including introducing it twice in 2003 but disruptions by MPs from parties such as the Samajwadi Party Rashtriya Janata Dal and Bahujan Samaj Party stalled proceedings with copies of the bill allegedly torn in ParliamentDespite being a major national party the Congress remained ldquoinactiverdquo and failed to build consensus or push the bill through allowing such disruptions to succeed it saidThe BJP further alleged that during the UPA regime from 2004 to 2014 despite including the womenrsquos reservation bill in the Common Minimum Programme and making repeated promises the Congress failed to ensure its passage in the Lok SabhaAlthough the bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010 with a twothirds majority the party did not take it forward in the Lok Sabha allegedly due to opposition from key allies such as the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata DalldquoThe priority was to keep the coalition government intact rather than ensure rightful representation for womenrdquo the BJP claimedWith PTI inputs