New Delhi: The Congress intends to appoint women to at least half of its posts, party president Rahul Gandhi said on Tuesday, adding the Congress will also get the women reservation bill passed in Parliament if voted to power.
Gandhi was speaking at the Mahila Adhikaar Sammelan organized by the party’s women wing headed by Lok Sabha member of Parliamen (MP) Sushmita Dev. Ahead of the 2019 general elections, Gandhi’s outreach to women is significant, as the party has been raising issues of women’s security and empowerment on several public platforms.
“I want to tell you all that in the future, women of India will have at least 50% posts in the Congress party. This will not happen overnight, but this is our aim because we are not ready to believe that if women have 50% population, if women contribute 50% to run the country, then why our political organization should also have the same space for them,” Gandhi told women party workers in an address at the event in national capital’s Talkatora Stadium.
Giving the example of Delhi’s former chief minister Sheila Dikshit who attended the meeting, Gandhi said the aim of the party was not to have women only as MLAs, MPs and pradhans in panchayats, but also that more women should become chief ministers and take high offices.
Last month, Gandhi wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to get the women reservation bill passed. He also offered “unconditional support” of the Congress party on the issue.
On Tuesday, Gandhi repeated this and said that if the government brings the bill, his party would support it. “If they do not pass the bill, then when we form government, we will get it passed,” he added.
Making a reference to recent cases of abuse at shelter homes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Gandhi sought to attack the central government over the issue.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi speaks on a number of issues but does not say a word on rapes against women. Whether it is the recent incident in Bihar or rapes of women in Uttar Pradesh, the PM does not speak against it,” Gandhi said in his address.