Cong lists record on women empowerment

Lucknow: Congress legislative party leader Aradhana Mishra Mona on Wednesday highlighted her party’s record on women’s empowerment, contrasting it with what she described as the Bharatiya Janata Party’s lack of similar milestones.

Addressing the UP assembly during a special session on women empowerment, Mishra said the Congress appointed five women as party presidents, while claiming that the BJP never had a woman president. She also underscored that India’s first woman Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, was from the Congress, describing her as a leader who “never bowed before the United States or Pakistan”.

She further listed several prominent women leaders associated with the Congress, including Sucheta Kripalani, India’s first woman chief minister (UP); Pratibha Patil, the country’s first woman President; and Meira Kumar, the first woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha. Mishra also mentioned Fathima Beevi as the first woman judge, appointed during a Congress-led govt.

Tracing the party’s historical stance, Mishra said that in 1928, Motilal Nehru advocated equal rights for women in his report. She added that this principle was reinforced during the 1931 Karachi session under Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, becoming a cornerstone of India’s policy framework. As a result, women were granted voting rights at the time of Independence.

She also pointed to reforms under Rajiv Gandhi, including the 61st Constitutional Amendment in 1988, which lowered the voting age from 21 to 18, extending the franchise to millions of new voters, including a large number of women. Mishra said the Rajiv Gandhi govt also proposed the 64th and 65th Constitutional amendments to provide 33% reservation for women in panchayat institutions, though they did not pass at the time.

According to her, the Congress persisted with the idea, leading to the passage of the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments during the tenure of PV Narasimha Rao in 1992-93, which ensured 33% reservation for women in panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies.

Mishra said the impact of these measures is visible today, with around 1.5 million women among nearly 4million elected representatives in panchayat bodies across the country.
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