Congress president Rahul Gandhi added a promise in his party manifestos of a 33 percent reservation for women in all government jobs at the national level on Wednesday.
During an interactive session with the students of Stella Maris College for Women in Chennai, Gandhi said that he doesn’t see women leading enough companies, states or being a part in the Lok Sabha or Vidhan Sabha. He asserted that women cannot be empowered in India unless there is a change in the attitude towards them.
"I am a believer that women should be pushed into places of leadership. Generally, women are smarter than men," he said.
Later, during a press conference in Chennai, he repeated his party's pitch about the women's reservation bill.
Congress' manifesto committee chairman P Chidambaram confirmed the news with the tweet:
.@RahulGandhi made three important announcements today:
1. Congress will pass the Women's Reservation Bill reserving 33% of seats for women in Parliament and State Legislatures in the first session of the 17th Lok Sabha.
2. Congress will reserve 33% of all posts/vacancies for women in Central govt, central govt organizations and CPSUs.
3. Congress will increase spending on Education to 6% of GDP by 2023-24 setting the annual goals in the first budget itself
While responding to the questions on the Party’s announcement, chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said there is provision for both horizontal and vertical reservation.
He claimed that the 50% cap is on the reservation for SC/ST and OBCs. He cleared that reservation to women and girls cuts across and it does not deny general category women any opportunities ensuring that it won’t reduce the general category jobs.