The ruling BJP is confronting a formidable challenge as various opposition parties unite in an effort to thwart the saffron party’s ambitions in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, opined CPIM Politburo leader and ex-Chief Minister of Tripura Manik Sarkar on Saturday and slammed the BJP for using the Women’s Reservation Bill for gaining political advantage.
Sarkar voiced his concerns during a gathering in Agartala Town Hall, addressing a daylong convention of Tripura Tapashili Jati Samabay Samtii. He accused the BJP of attempting to exploit the Women’s Reservation Bill and the recently concluded G20 Summit for political gain in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Sarkar emphasized the historical involvement of women’s organizations within the Left Front, attributing the origination of the Women’s Reservation Bill to these groups. The bill was subsequently passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010 during the tenure of the Manmohan Singh-led Congress government at the national level. He noted that the campaign for this bill had been ongoing for the past 27 years.
Manik Sarkar questioned the current Modi-led government’s commitment to the bill, pointing out a significant delay in its implementation. He referred to the BJP’s pre-2014 Lok Sabha election promise to enact the bill into law within their first year in office, highlighting the nine-year gap between that promise and its introduction in parliament.
Sarkar clarified that the bill specifies that the reservation provisions will only come into effect following the delimitation process, which involves the reconfiguration of constituencies based on post-legislation census data.
Sarkar also criticized the central government’s handling of the recent G20 summit held in Delhi, asserting that it was orchestrated to gain political advantage, positioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a global figurehead, often referred to as ‘Vishwa Guru,’ in the lead-up to the Lok Sabha elections.
Despite the BJP’s formidable position in Indian politics, Sarkar opined that the party has been encountering growing challenges since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Opposition parties, he claimed, are collectively devising strategies to unseat the BJP from power and replace it with a democratic administration focused on the welfare of the nation’s citizens.