New Delhi: The Congress on Monday alleged that the government’s proposed delimitation linked to the women’s reservation law is an attempt to create a divide between the northern and southern states.
The opposition party asserted that delimitation cannot be an exercise just in arithmetic but should also be about equitability in the real sense and states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana should not pay a price for better population control and having better indices.
“I believe the way delimitation is being thrust upon the people, it is an attempt to create a divide between the North and the South,” Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said at a press conference here when asked about Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s criticism of the government over the reported delimitation formula proposed by the government while seeking to amend the women’s reservation law for its implementation in 2029.
“There are many southern states whose Human Development Index (HDI) parameters are better than other states — they controlled population, controlled expenditure, so why is delimitation being done to harm them,” Shrinate asked.
She said if the voice of states such as Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is suppressed in Parliament and this is thrust upon them without a consensus or an all-party meeting, then people will be hurt, worried and will raise their voice in anger.
Citing Sonia Gandhi’s article which stated that the real issue with the government’s move to bring bills in a special sitting of Parliament this week is delimitation, not women’s reservation, Shrinate said when the women’s reservation bill was being passed precisely 30 months ago in September 2023, the Congress supported it.
“Our leaders in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, including Congress president Kharge ji and CPP chairperson Smt Sonia Gandhi ji, clearly said that women’s reservation should be implemented immediately without being linked to a caste census and delimitation… After 30 months, without any trigger, Mr Modi wants to undo his own constitutional amendment,” she said.
“How does the government explain this U-turn? Why wasn’t this bill introduced and debated before April 3? The Modi government chose to bring the bill on April 16, 17 and 18 in the middle of election campaigns in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu,” Shrinate said.
Posing questions to the government, Shrinate asked about the MPs from poll-bound states.
“Do they not have a constitutional right to campaign? Why not wait until April 29?” she said.
Her remarks came after Sonia Gandhi asserted that the real issue with the government’s move to bring bills in a special sitting of Parliament this week is delimitation, not women’s reservation, and claimed that the reported delimitation proposal is “extremely dangerous” as well as an “assault” on the Constitution itself.
Gandhi stressed that any delimitation involving an increase in the strength of the Lok Sabha must be politically, and not just arithmetically, equitable.
In an article published in The Hindu, she also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s real intention now is to further “delay and derail” the caste census.
Prime Minister Modi is making appeals to opposition parties to support bills that the government wants to “bulldoze” through Parliament in a “special session” when the election campaign in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will be at its peak, she said.
“There can be only one reason for the extraordinary hurry, which is to derive political advantage and place the opposition on the defensive,” Gandhi alleged.
The Budget session of Parliament has been extended and a special three-day sitting of the House has been convened from April 16 to 18, during which amendments to the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’, more commonly known as the Women’s Reservation Act, will be brought for its implementation in 2029.
While elections in Puducherry, Assam and Kerala were held on April 9, polls in West Bengal would be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29.
In Tamil Nadu, polls will be held in a single phase on April 23.
Votes will be counted on May 4.
