Sitaram Yechury seeks early implementation of women's reservation
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Patna (PTI): CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has asserted that early implementation of women's reservation in Parliament and state assemblies was needed.
Talking to reporters here on Wednesday, he said quotas for women have been awaited for 25 years and wondered if "it will be implemented by 2034".
Yechury, who will attend on Thursday the valedictory session of the CPI(M)'s state-level training camp, was approached with queries by journalists at the airport here upon arrival.
"Issues like separate quotas for SCs, STs and OBCs were raised when the Bill was last tabled before the Rajya Sabha. These remained unaddressed. It is the job of the government to squarely address these issues," said Yechury, a former member of the Upper House, reacting to the passing of the latest Bill in the Lok Sabha.
He also said, "The nation has been waiting for women's reservation for 25 years. Now, clauses like Census and delimitation make us wonder whether it will be implemented by 2034. The government owes an answer on that count, too."
The CPI(M) general secretary also said, in reply to a query, that before returning from Bihar, he will meet Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD president Lalu Prasad, both of whom are his partners in the opposition INDIA coalition.
He, however, declined to take queries on his party's decision to not nominate anyone from its ranks to INDIA's coordination committee.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
