BJP women leaders slam INDIA Bloc over women’s quota defeat

BJP women MPs and leaders, including Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Hema Malini, Bansuri Swaraj and Kamaljeet Sehrawat, on Saturday led a protest march towards the residence of the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in Delhi, a day after the 131st Constitution Amendment Bill on women’s reservation failed to pass in the House, with the Congress-led INDIA bloc refusing to back the delimitation process linked to it.

The protestors gathered at Moti Lal Nehru Marg, torched an effigy of Rahul Gandhi and tried to reach his residence when the police used water cannon to disperse them and detained several leaders.

Near the Sunehri Masjid roundabout, BJP state president Virendra Sachdeva, MPs Kamaljeet Sehrawat and Bansuri Swaraj and other leaders were detained and taken to Parliament Street police station, the party state unit said in a statement.

Visuals shared from the protest site showed BJP women leaders burning Rahul Gandhi’s effigy during the protest march. The police had to deploy water cannons to disperse women workers of the BJP, who protested near Gandhi’s residence.

Police deploy water cannons to disperse women workers of the BJP, who are protesting near the residence of Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi, a day after the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill failed to pass in the Lok Sabha. However, Rahul Gandhi was not present at his residence at the time of the protest. The Congress leader was attending a poll rally in Tamil Nadu.

The protesters, including BJP women MPs Hema Malini, Manju Sharma, and Vatsalya Gupta, slammed the Opposition parties for the defeat of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday, accusing them of “humiliating” the women of the country. The BJP termed the Congress’ stand “anti-women”, raising slogans and holding placards after 230 opposition MPs voted against the bill, which required a two-thirds majority to be passed. In contrast, 298 members of the ruling NDA coalition supported it.

The chief minister said that opposition parties collectively stated in Parliament that women should not receive reservations in legislative bodies.

“For the past 30 years, half the population has endured humiliation as the bill has repeatedly been introduced but either torn apart or opposed,” she said and asserted that the women of the country will register their strong response to the injustice done to them.

Mathura MP Hema Malini said Prime Minister Narendra Modi worked hard for the passing of the bill, but the Opposition parties did not allow it. “It’s a very sad day for us. It seems the Opposition has no confidence in women’s power, and they don’t want them to have their rights,” she said.

Swaraj, one of the BJP’s seven Lok Sabha MPs from Delhi, where the party holds all seven constituencies, accused Rahul and the INDIA bloc of “betraying” women. “The entire opposition, especially LoP Gandhi, betrayed the women of this country yesterday. They backstabbed women. They want women’s role to be limited to polling booths. When it came to political representation, they chose their own interests and now face the anger of women,” she added.

Sehrawat, another BJP MP from Delhi, said the government wanted to implement the Women’s Reservation Bill on a “priority” basis, but the INDIA bloc voted to defeat the legislation.

The party claimed over 10,000 women participated in the March. Union minister Raksha Khadse, MPs Manoj Tiwari and Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, too, joined the protest.

Sachdeva said that opposition leaders behaved as a “royal family,” who cannot see beyond their own families. They have worked to deprive the women, who are half of the country’s population, of their rightful share by preventing the bill from being passed, he said.

North East Delhi MP Manoj Tiwari asserted that women will one day get their due rights, if not today, then tomorrow.