00:04okay so the big question of course the women's reservation amendment bill has been defeated
00:11what does this really mean for the political climate in the country joining me now is senior
00:20opposition congress mp rajya sabha and jurist dr abhishek manu singh we appreciate you joining us
00:28i want to understand from you the women's amendment bill the nari shakti vanda bill defeated
00:33because it didn't meet the two-thirds criteria in the lok sabha but the bjp is claiming that there
00:40is victory in defeat that they made a full attempt to ensure women's reservation and you in the
00:46opposition blocked it that's the narrative they are running uh rajdeep i'll be very pointed but
00:53there are six or seven facets a lot you need to see and your viewers need to understand and let
00:57me
00:58start by saying uh galib ke kuch khyaal achse hota hai so let them exult in what they say is
01:04a victory
01:04actually they've been exposed to be a wolf in sheep's clothing the sheep's clothing was the
01:14women's reservation phrase the wolf was the object of delimitation in a distorted and a completely
01:21ridiculous manner now let me give you those six seven points very quickly of course uh first is
01:26very interesting which most people have not noticed this is possibly the first time in the history of
01:31indian parliament that a government consciously with a full majority in 2023 gets a constitutional
01:38amendment with 100 support of everyone including the opposition does nothing for three years
01:44and then withdraws its own constitutional amendment by moving a second constitutional amendment in 2026
01:51i don't think it's ever happened before this shows the ad hocism the second example of ad hocism
01:57is processful which you must know before i come to the substantive which is very serious
02:01there are five or six major processful issues which show that this government is functioning like a
02:06sultan's uh you know whim and caprice ad hocism 14th of april two days ago or three days ago we
02:15get
02:16the copies of this bill not a single all-party meeting is attempted no standing committee no jpc no select
02:24committee no nothing a third bill the ut bill which you saw being defeated is just added on 16th
02:32maybe 15th evening and most interesting which people have missed out yesterday at 10 o'clock
02:38they notify the 2023 amendment which they had passed but which was not notified till now because somebody
02:46realized the goof up that without activating the 23 amendment making it law there was nothing they
02:52could amend today so this shows that the whole thing is one big mess it's a sultan's caprice and whim
02:58now let us come to the four of three or four substantive issues if you want 2011 census which
03:05is what your proclaimed status stand is i am with you we can pass this in one week from today
03:11again
03:12you talk of women's reservation let me tell you nari shakti can be operationalized in one week
03:18take the 2011 census apply it to 543 and implement it no you're notified no no you're you're actually
03:27giving what is the formula i gave last night on tv 543 members no what stops you for three years
03:34no
03:34no what they will argue what stopped you from for 10 years when you were in power from 2004 to
03:3914 you
03:40passed in the rajasaba you couldn't pass it in the loksaba one minute one minute one minute we could
03:45not pass it because large sections of the present government opposed it they opposed it on the ground
03:51of an updated census but now their argument is poor years because everybody supported the 23
03:57amendment for three years apart from not notifying it you did nothing and today the only fear is that
04:05you will lose seats one third to women well the congress party and the india alliance is fully
04:11prepared to lose one third seats to women no are all no no hold on are all the india alliance
04:17allies
04:17prepared that out of 543 181 will be reserved for women is the answer is yes because that is the
04:27common proclaimed uh press stated stand for the last five days why don't you if you have to do it
04:34we
04:35are for women's reservation do it tomorrow call our bluff start it again tomorrow then two more things
04:41rajdeep till the end till now as we speak apart from the oral assurances of the prime minister and
04:48the home minister where do you have a percentage equivalence of states that you had x percent in
04:54the old house and you will have x percent in the 850 house if if assurances of howsoever higher person
05:01would do in place of a constitutional amendment would do in place of a written text then you don't need
05:07all this procedure but i mean i don't understand i don't understand i take your point sir i take
05:13your point on the 50 percent amit shah just a minute sir one minute sir just amit shah the home
05:17minister in the house today said give me one hour i will bring an amendment bill that will include 50
05:23percent written assurance in parliament okay now just see just you are very glad that you said so
05:29i'm very glad please ask your viewers what is the sincerity it depicts the honorable home minister of
05:36the country the second most powerful person in the middle of the debate which has gone on for two
05:41days for which you had a special session in the middle of elections now says something which is
05:48known to everyone that means this bill has been brought only to fail it has been brought only for optics
05:57for political messaging you tell me do you ascribe ignorance to the honorable prime minister and home
06:03minister that two lines could have been put in the original draft and does it stand to reason that
06:09they will say it one hour before the voting it's nothing but a sharaad yeah but if masiyah's modi shah
06:15have lost the debate in the in the house in terms of the failure to get two-thirds majority they
06:20will
06:20claim that they've got their political messaging their optics out right till the very end whether it's a
06:26parliamentary affairs minister whether it's the home minister they are saying the women of the country
06:29have been betrayed by the opposition on the contrary rajdeep they stand exposed for dressing up like
06:36a sheep and pushing a bull's agenda why because we have repeated that we are ready to go for women's
06:43reservation tomorrow you already have an operationalized amendment of 2023 notified yesterday at 10 o'clock
06:52we have said again and again that women's reservation requires nothing if you are going by 2011
06:58although the correct thing would be to have a proper census but if it's 2000 we are both swearing
07:042011 we are both swearing by then it can be done so how is it that we are speaking for
07:09women's reservation
07:10you are the one and just one more thing rajdeep very interesting the standard absolute sequence for this
07:16has to be census delimitation women's reservation what you have done is no census or an old census
07:25women's reservation first and then delimitation never has this kind of distortion been allowed
07:32so it's a charade it's a game so what happens now has do you believe the entire issue in conclusion
07:38of women's reservation has once again been pushed down or simply extended for another day
07:46well the can has been pulled has been pushed down the street again
07:50in case the government does not do either i'm giving you an alternative scenario the government does not agree
07:57to our 543 2011 reservation census reservation that's model one you are the one who's saying no not me
08:07alternative model you want 850 you can get the census just started in 26
08:14done by 27 28 and then as per that don't proclaim a figure of 850 but do it as per
08:21that
08:22you will still possibly with some pushing have a women's reservation before 29 okay
08:26now the beauty here is you want to do neither and you want to blame the opposition
08:31you will not do 543 on 2011
08:37okay i'm going to leave it there dr singhvi what you are telling me is basically that even today the
08:44opposition is willing to support any legislative attempt to have 181 seats out of 543 reserved for
08:52women it's the fastest way to ensure it before the 20 29 elections or even alternatively or even
09:00alternatively do the census over by 28 and have the delimitation and do it on the higher number
09:06of seats okay i'm going to leave it you can't say no to both okay i'm going to leave it
09:10there dr singhvi
09:11you've given us a strong perspective from the opposition at the top of the show thank you very
09:16much thank you so much thank you so much thank you so much
09:18thank you
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