New Delhi: Wearing a black band, chief minister Rekha Gupta on Saturday staged a symbolic protest during a programme of women entrepreneurs to oppose the non-passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament.Calling it a setback for gender representation, Gupta alleged that the Opposition had decided to keep women out of the Lok Sabha and state assemblies by denying them their rightful participation.Later in the day, Gupta, along with Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva and hundreds of women BJP workers, marched in protest outside the residence of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. Near the Sunehri Masjid roundabout, police intervened to stop protesters who were burning an effigy of Gandhi and dispersed the crowd. Several leaders, including Sachdeva, Kamaljeet Sehrawat, Bansuri Swaraj and Yogita, along with other women leaders, were detained and taken to Parliament Street police station.
Addressing the protest, Gupta alleged that Opposition parties collectively stated in Parliament that women should not be given reservation. “For the past 30 years, half the population has endured humiliation as the bill has repeatedly been introduced but either torn apart or opposed. The Opposition has conspired in various ways to prevent its passage,” she said. Gupta further alleged that Opposition leaders feared women from ordinary households entering Parliament and state assemblies, which, she claimed, could threaten the positions held by women from their own families.Sachdeva slammed the Congress, alleging that it could not see beyond its own families and worked to deprive the nation’s women — half the population — of their rightful share by blocking the bill.Earlier, Gupta wore a black band at a summit organised by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), targeting what she termed the Opposition’s “anti-women politics”.“As a woman chief minister, this is not merely political; it is about dignity and sensitivity,” she said, adding that a crucial opportunity to give crores of women a role in decision-making has been taken away. Gupta said the arguments put forward by parties opposing women’s reservation lacked substance and reflected an anti-women mindset.The Congress, however, said the defeat of the constitutional amendment bill was linked to delimitation and not women’s reservation. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of deliberately linking women’s quota to delimitation based on the 2011 census. The party has maintained that the Modi govt should implement the 2023 women’s quota law, which it said had the support of all parties.Delhi Congress president Devender Yadav said the party would protest outside the BJP headquarters on Sunday morning over the issue.
