"Only Tokenism, Congress Never Serious About Women's Quota": Amit Shah

Union Home Minister Amit Shah slammed the Opposition, particularly the Congress, for showing only "tokenism" on the Narshakti Vandan Adhiniyam and said the party has never been serious about women's reservation in legislative bodies.

The Congress either let legislation lapse or their friendly parties prevented the women's reservation bill from being tabled, he said.

The Home Minister said that across the length and breadth of India, people are rejoicing the introduction of the Narishakti Vandan Adhiniyam in Parliament, which shows the unwavering commitment of the Modi government to empower women.

"Sadly, the Opposition is unable to digest this. And, what is more shameful is that except for tokenism, Congress has never been serious about women's reservations. Either they let legislation lapse or their friendly parties prevented the bill from being tabled. Their double standards will never be hidden, whatever stunts they try to take credit," he wrote on X.

The government on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment bill to reserve a third of seats in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies for women, reviving a bill pending for 27 years for want of consensus among parties.

Making it the first bill to be introduced in the new Parliament building, the government said it will enable greater participation of women in policy-making at the state and national levels and help achieve the goal of making India a developed country by 2047.

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