Dehradun: : Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday said the way LoP Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and other INDIA bloc MPs thumped the table and cheered after the govt failed to pass the women quota bill in Lok Sabha reminded him of the Mahabharata era. “The Kauravas had laughed loudly and insulted Draupadi. The way Duryodhana, Dushashan and other Kauravas laughed at the humiliation of a woman, Rahul, Akhilesh and TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee laughed similarly in Parliament,” he said during the one-day special session of the state assembly.“The manner in which Opposition leaders were speaking also reminded me of Ravana’s arrogance. But they forget that Ravana’s downfall was due to the humiliation of Sita,” he said. Terming Opposition leaders “anti-women”, he said they were never in favor of giving due rights to women.During his address, Dhami recalled the contributions of women activists such as Gaura Devi, Tinchri Mai, Bishni Devi Shah, Jashuli Shaukyan, Belmati Chauhan and Kamala Pant, among others, in the creation and growth of the state. “As the Leader of the House, I request that Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, with one voice, pass a resolution expressing support for central govt’s efforts to implement Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam at the earliest, aimed at providing 33% reservation to women in Parliament and state legislative assemblies,” Dhami said.He said PM Narendra Modi had introduced Constitution (128th Amendment) Bill, 2023, to secure the rights of women in the democratic system of the country. “He made a decisive effort to realize this historic resolve by convening a special session of Parliament on Sept 19, 2023. But Congress and its allied parties prevented this historic and epoch-making initiative from being passed in Parliament due to their political self-interest,” he said.Slamming Opposition, he said, “Congress was already in the ICU, and now after this insult to Nari Shakti, let us hope it does not end up on a ventilator. Their excuse about delimitation was already rejected by home minister Amit Shah in Lok Sabha, where he said no discrimination would be made against the seats of any state through delimitation, which is why the provision for increasing seats was kept in the bill.”Dhami said that in the past 11 years under Modi’s leadership, the gender budget had increased by more than five times. In the budget for 2026-27, a provision of more than Rs 5 lakh crore has been made for women’s welfare, which is approximately 12% more than the previous year.In response, opposition leader Yashpal Arya said, “There was no need for this special session. When the bill was brought in 2023, it should have been implemented on the present number of Lok Sabha seats. Secondly, the process of delimitation and a fresh census will delay the process by another eight years. Instead, they should get the bill passed on the basis of the present strength.”The senior Congress leader pointed out that the census work will take at least a year and another two years will go into the publication of documents. “It shows that BJP does not want to implement the law to give due rights to women but is more eager to delay the matter,” he said.He also said that if women’s reservation in parliamentary and state assembly seats is implemented immediately, it can benefit the state in the 2027 assembly polls. “We are in favor of the implementation of the bill passed in 2023 rather than waiting for census and delimitation.”Meanwhile, women Congress members led by state chief Jyoti Rautela protested against BJP govt, marching from Nehru Colony before being stopped near Rispana bridge. Demanding immediate implementation of 33% reservation for women, Congress members raised slogans against BJP govt. “BJP is least interested in implementing the reservation bill. It is trying to delay the process and mislead people over the issue,” said Rautela.
