Desk Correspondent , New Delhi – Congress leader Akhilesh Prasad Singh on Thursday credited former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi with pioneering the 33 percent quota for women in village and district panchayats, framing it as a core Congress initiative amid fresh parliamentary moves to extend similar reservations higher up. "The women's bill should be passed as soon as possible. It was the initiative of the Congress itself. Rajiv Gandhi had worked to secure 33 per cent reservation in village and district panchayats," Singh said, while demanding quotas in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies too. His remarks landed on the first day of a special three-day Parliament session from April 16 to 18, where the Centre plans amendments to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, to fast-track implementation ahead of the 2029 elections by delinking it from the next census and expanding Lok Sabha seats to around 850.

Singh's statement also flagged Congress opposition to the delimitation process being pushed alongside the bill, calling it politically motivated. The party maintains it has long championed women's political space at every level. BJP MP Harsh Vardhan Shringla countered by hailing the legislation as "the most important piece of legislation that we've had in our country for many years," tying it directly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of women-led development and urging all parties to back it. He warned that non-support would amount to being "anti-women and anti-representation," sharpening the partisan edge to the debate over both credit and execution.

The claim revives a well-documented history: Rajiv Gandhi introduced constitutional amendment bills in May 1989 for one-third women's reservation in panchayats and nagarpalikas. The Lok Sabha passed them, but they failed in the Rajya Sabha by just seven votes. His push laid the groundwork for the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments enacted in 1992-93 under P.V. Narasimha Rao, which gave Panchayati Raj Institutions constitutional status and mandated 33 percent women's reservation along with seats for SCs and STs. The reform has since transformed grassroots politics, producing about 14.5 lakh elected women representatives nationwide roughly 46 percent of local seats with 21 states voluntarily raising the quota to 50 percent, proving the model's success in decentralising power and boosting gender parity from the villages upward.