Opposition stood against women’s reservation for ‘selfish political interests’, claims PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday alleged that Opposition parties stood against the women’s reservation bill for their “selfish political interests”, and that they insulted the framers of the Constitution by doing so.

Modi made the statement a day after the Union government’s bill to amend the 2023 Women’s Reservation Act and redraw the boundaries of electoral constituencies was defeated in the Lok Sabha. Opposition parties, including the Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Trinamool Congress, had maintained that they supported the amendments to the Women’s Reservation Act, but were opposed to the proposed delimitation of electoral constituencies.

The prime minister said on Saturday that he had hoped that the Congress would “rectify its decades-old mistake” of obstructing women’s reservation when it was in power. “But the Congress lost the opportunity to script history and stand in support of women,” he remarked.

Modi claimed that those who opposed the Centre’s legislations on Friday were “taking women’s power for granted”.

“But they are forgetting that the women of the 21st century are monitoring every event in the country,” the prime minister asserted. “They sense their intentions and are fully aware of the truth. Therefore, the opposition will surely be punished for the sin they have committed by opposing women's reservation.”

Modi made the statement amid Assembly elections taking place in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. Elections in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry took place on April 9. Voting in Tamil Nadu will take place on April 23, while polling in West Bengal will take place in two phases on April 23 and April 29.

‘Misinformation was spread on delimitation’: Modi

Modi accused the Congress of “spreading misinformation” that the delimitation exercise, which involves redrawing the boundaries of electoral constituencies, would lead to some states losing influence.

“But the government has made it clear from the first day itself that neither the proportion of a state's representation will change nor will anyone's representation be lower,” the prime minister asserted. “Seats of all states will be increased in an equal proportion. Still, Congress, DMK, TMC, SP and other parties are not ready to accept this.”

The current composition of the Lok Sabha is based on the 1971 Census. According to the 84th Amendment Act of 2001, constituency boundaries were frozen until the first census after 2026.

The census, which began on April 1, is expected to conclude in 2027.

The bill that was introduced in Parliament earlier this week proposed to amend Article 82 of the Constitution to remove the entire proviso. This would have paved the way for delimitation to take place based on the latest census, which was held in 2011.

Opposition parties had argued that population-based delimitation would give an undue advantage to northern and central states in the Lok Sabha, as the southern states had been more successful in controlling population growth. They also noted that the ruling BJP has greater support in northern states than in the South.

However, on Saturday, Modi said that if the bill had been passed in the Lok Sabha, seats in all states, including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala, would have increased.

“But due to their selfish politics, these parties betrayed the people of their own states,” the prime minister claimed.

“The DMK had the opportunity to make even more Tamils MPs and MLAs,” Modi said. “It could have further strengthened the voice of Tamil Nadu. But it lost that opportunity. The Trinamool Congress too had the opportunity to push forward the people of Bengal. But TMC too lost the opportunity.”