AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi reacted to the Women’s Reservation Bill tabled in the Lok Sabha. He expressed concern that if the bill becomes a law, the political representation of Muslims will decrease even more. Owaisi clarified that his party has always supported women’s empowerment and did not oppose it even during the Manmohan Singh government in 1996. However, he emphasized the need for proper representation of OBC and Muslim women in the reservation quota. He questioned why the government is unable to provide adequate representation when the Prime Minister himself is from the OBC community.
Asaduddin Owaisi highlighted the historical deficit in political representation of Muslims. He pointed out that in the 17 Lok Sabha elections held so far, out of 8,992 MPs, only 520 were Muslims. This is a 52% deficit compared to their proportion in the population. According to him, there should have been 1,070 Muslim MPs. When it comes to women from the Muslim community, their representation is even smaller. Owaisi expressed concern that if the Women’s Reservation Bill becomes a law, the representation of Muslims will further decrease.
