The Congress Legislative Party (CLP) on Monday boycotted the special session of the Vidhan Sabha and held a mock session outside the Assembly building, where MLAs Raghuvir Singh Kadian and Shakuntla Khatak held the proceedings as the Speaker.Leader of Opposition and CLP leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that the party MLAs would not claim any TA or DA for the day as the state Assembly did not have the power to make laws on delimitation and women’s reservations.“The special session is a waste of public money,” he pointed out.He said that during the Business Advisory Council (BAC) meeting, no copy of the government resolution was given to them. He added that the Congress would not allow the Vidhan Sabha platform to be used for the BJP’s political ploys.Congress’ Chief Whip BB Batra said that the failure of the Delimitation Bill in Parliament “constitutes a major defeat” for the government at the Centre, which it must acknowledge. He emphasized that obtaining the consensus of all members was a prerequisite for passing any Bill; however, the BJP attempted to push this bill through by force.He said the Bill’s failure in Parliament was inevitable, as the BJP lacked the requisite two-thirds majority. Batra alleged that the BJP has made a mockery of parliamentary traditions, but the INDIA alliance stood united to thwart their efforts.Batra informed that it was the Congress, in 2010, successfully passed the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha, where it held the necessary numerical strength.During the mock session, to highlight the BJP’s ‘anti-woman’ face, MLA Fatehabad, Balwan Singh Daulatpuriya, said that if PM Narendra Modi had to apologise, he should apologise to women for the 2017 Unnao rape case, where a 17-year-old girl was raped by then BJP MLA Kuldeep Sengar.MLA Narnaund Jassi Petwar alleged that PM Modi was surrounded by rapists like Kuldeep Sengar and Prajwal Revanna, grandson of former Indian Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, whose Janata Dal (Secular) party is an ally of the BJP.Both Sengar and Revanna are convicted of rape.On the special session of the Vidhan Sabha, Petwar commented that it was the BJP’s drama to fool the people. “It was the Congress that gave India its first woman PM, first woman President and even the first woman CM.”He alleged that PM Modi didn’t even respect his wife Jashodaben, and to further attack the BJP, he cited the atrocities on Haryana women wrestlers in their fight against molestation by then BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and the 2020 Hathras gangrape and murder of a Dalit woman.MLA Jhajjar Geeta Bhukkal and MLA Mullana Pooja demanded that the 2023 Act of women’s reservation be implemented immediately and cited the delay as the BJP’s anti-women mindset.MLA Badli Kuldeep Vats talked about the molestation case of Sandeep Singh, where the victim is an athlete. The case is underway at the Chandigarh district courts.Congress MLAs passed a resolution supporting the Women’s Reservation Bill, which had already been passed in 2023, and demanded that the government implement it with immediate effect. They pointed out that neither the 2023 amendment nor the proposed 2026 amendment contained any provision for granting a reservation to women in the Rajya Sabha.In September 2023, both Houses of Parliament had unanimously passed the Women’s Reservation Bill. The President has also given her assent to this legislation. The MLAs pointed out that the Act itself was formally notified only after a 30-month delay.During the mock session, Hooda said, “The Opposition, and indeed the entire nation, has seen through this ploy by the BJP and has ensured that this manoeuvre by the government does not succeed. The Opposition is consistently demanding that the Bill passed in 2023 be implemented immediately. In an attempt to mask its anti-women policies, the BJP is now trying to sow confusion among the public.”“The 33 per cent reservation for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions is a legacy of the Congress party. Through the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, introduced under the leadership of the late Rajiv Gandhi, one-third reservation for women was secured in gram panchayats, block panchayats and district panchayats,” he added.