Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday (April 18) lashed out at the Congress, a day after a united stance by the opposition defeated a Constitution amendment bill to tweak the women’s reservation law and raise the number of seats in Parliament and state legislatures through delimitation.
He accused the principal opposition party of being anti-women, and warned that it would have to face their “wrath”.
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“It has been established that the Congress is anti-women… It will have to face the wrath of the women of the country,” the minister, who was disappointed with the outcome, said. According to him, the government side was more dejected because the women of the country were denied their due.
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Rijiju said the Congress’s anti-women mentality stood exposed after the voting result in Parliament. The ruling National Democratic Alliance failed to gather the required two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha to pass the Bill. Two hundred and ninety-eight members voted in its support, while 230 MPs voted against it. At least 360 votes were needed by the government to pass the bill.
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which hit a hurdle in the Lower House, provided for Lok Sabha seats to be increased by up to 50 per cent to “operationalise” the women’s reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
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Seats were also to be increased in state and UT assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
Several BJP leaders from across the country expressed their disappointment over the bill’s failure, even as the Opposition hailed the outcome, saying it helped preserve the idea of India, as they alleged that the real goal behind the women’s reservation idea was to execute a delimitation process that would give the states where the BJP is powerful a bigger say at the Union.
(With agency inputs)
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