Big step but why do you need new census: Rahul Gandhi on women's quota bill

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said the women's reservation bill is very important but wondered whether it was not designed to be implemented but was brought to divert attention from the Adani issue and the issue of caste census. “The moment the opposition raises the issue of caste census, the BJP tries to raise a new event so that the OBC community and the people of India look the other way. In my research for the speech, I took a look at the different institutions that define how our country moves forward. There are many-- Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, Vidhan Sabham bureaucracy, the press. And I look with an eye to understand what is the participation of the OBC community in these institutions,” Rahul Gandhi said.

"Don't be scared," Rahul Gandhi said as his mention of the caste census drew protests from the Lok Sabha. Rahul Gandhi said only three government secretaries are from the OBC community.

"I stand in support of the women's reservation bill. Yesterday, there was a discussion and the issue of the sengol came up. There was a conversation on the to and fro about the sengol and the transfer of power from the British to the people of India. Before handing over power to the people of India, the British asked the leadership of the freedom movement whom are we going to transfer the power. Of course, there was an arrogance in this as they viewed India as a poor country," Rahul Gandhi said.

"And the revolutionary answer that our freedom fighters gave was that we would transfer the power to the people of the India. So from the day of its inception, we became a country that gave votes to everybody. It was revolutionary. We gave votes to every single community. The vote was a mechanism to transfer power. If you look at the journey from Independence, it's been a constant transfer of power to the people of India. On the other side, there is a counter of taking power away from the people. Today also the fight is going on. A huge step in giving power to women was panchayat raj. And this is another step, a big step, not a small step," Rahul Gandhi said.

Rahul Gandhi said the bill is incomplete as it does not include OBC women. "There are two things that seem strange to me. One is the idea that you require a new census to implement it. The second is you require a new delimitation. In my view, it's quite simple. This bill can be implemented today by giving 33% of seats to women. So I wonder if this is not designed to push the ball forward to 7, 8, 9 years and then let this thing play out the way it does," Rahul Gandhi said.

"This is a nice, tasteful building but would have liked to see the President in this process. President is a woman, from a tribal community, would've been befitting to have her visible in the transfer to the new Parliament building," he said.

"I was shocked to find out that out of 90 secretaries in govt of India, only three are OBCs. These secretaries only control 5 per cent of the budget. If the country's budget is 44 lakh crore then 2.4 lakh crore controls it," Rahul Gandhi said.

"Only caste census can give the answer to the number of OBC, Dalit and Adivasi in the country. I have a suggestion for the government. Pass the Women's Reservation Bill...Get the caste census done as soon as possible...and if you are not doing it, we will do it," the Congress Mp said.

The women's reservation bill was passed in the Lok Sabha with 454 MPs voting in favour and two against.