New Delhi, Apr 10 The Congress on Friday accused the Narendra Modi government of playing politics over the women's reservation law and asserted that the proposed delimitation exercise linked to it was "unconstitutional" and could have "grave consequences," warranting thorough deliberation after the ongoing assembly polls.
The Congress Working Committee met here to deliberate on the government's move to amend the women's reservation law, the proposed delimitation exercise, and the West Asia conflict.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will now call a meeting of top leaders of all opposition parties, likely on April 15, to discuss and formulate a joint strategy for the "special session" of Parliament from April 16 to 18, during which the government is set to introduce bills amending the women's quota law.
The top Congress leadership, while deliberating on the issue, stated that while they were in favor of implementing the women's reservation law, they opposed the "rushed" delimitation exercise solely to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha for "political gain."
Both Kharge and former party president Rahul Gandhi said the issue was not about the implementation of women's reservation, but about the manner in which the delimitation exercise was being pushed amidst the election process.
Several Congress leaders from the south, including Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah, Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, opposed the reported government proposal to increase Lok Sabha seats by about 50 percent, claiming that this would disadvantage southern states.
In his opening remarks, Kharge said the government is convening the Parliament session with the sole intention of securing political advantage, which is a "violation" of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
He said the proposed amendments are of such a nature that they can potentially have a profound impact on the country's electoral system.
"Therefore, we will formulate a collective strategy by holding discussions on these issues with our colleagues in the opposition as well. We will move forward unitedly," Kharge asserted.
"The Congress remains steadfastly committed to ensuring women's empowerment and social justice," Gandhi said in a post on Facebook.
The meeting, chaired by Kharge with Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi attending through video conferencing.
Congress general secretaries Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, K C Venugopal, Jairam Ramesh, and Sachin Pilot, along with Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Sukhu and former Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, as well as former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and former Union ministers Ambika Soni and Anand Sharma, were also present.
Addressing a press conference at the Congress headquarters in Indira Bhawan, Ramesh said Modi owes an apology to the women of India for the delay in implementing the women's quota law. He also alleged that this was being done only to delay the caste census.
"Our demand was that an all-party meeting be convened after the West Bengal elections. This meeting should discuss the Constitution Amendment Bill and make an effort to build a consensus.
"This special session should not be called in the midst of ongoing elections in five states of the country, as it would violate the Model Code of Conduct. It would not be appropriate for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take credit for the Constitution Amendment Bill in the middle of elections," he said.
Ramesh said the Congress wants the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, passed in consensus in 2023, and the inclusion of 334(A) in the Constitution to be implemented properly.
"We believe that this is Narendra Modi's way of continuously delaying the caste-based census...The Modi government is calling a special session to influence the elections. If the Modi government had called an all-party meeting after the elections and discussed it in the monsoon session, the sky wouldn't have fallen," he said.
Ramesh said this is a very serious issue and it will have far-reaching consequences regarding delimitation.
"The Prime Minister repeatedly talks about women's reservation, but he is distracting from the real issues by creating a narrative. The women quota bill is being brought now only to divert attention from issues like failure of government's foreign policy, the West Asia crisis, and other issues," Ramesh alleged.
The Congress questioned the government's keenness in passing the Constitutional Amendment Bill in "utmost haste," alleging that its only objective was to play politics and gain electorally during these elections.
The CWC meeting came days ahead of the three-day sitting of Parliament, during which the government will introduce bills to implement the Women's Reservation Act before the 2029 parliamentary polls and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816, with 273 reserved for women.
Kharge said that after a prolonged silence, the Modi government has suddenly become active regarding the issue of women's reservation.
During Parliament's sittings, the government intends to pass a significant Constitutional Amendment Bill so that it may claim credit for, and derive political benefit from, during the upcoming state assembly elections, he alleged.
"The Modi government is calling this parliamentary meeting with the intention of gaining political advantage. It wants to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill as quickly as possible," Kharge said.
"This constitutes a violation of the Model Code of Conduct. Yet, given that the Election Commission currently appears to be functioning merely as a subordinate office of the Ministry of Home Affairs, we harbour no expectation that it will even take cognisance of these violations," he said.
This is nothing new for Modi government, he said, alleging that undermining democracy and taking arbitrary decisions has become a habit for them, a practice against which we have consistently raised our voice in protest.
"We do not require a certificate from anyone regarding issues such as the welfare of women and the marginalised sections of society," Kharge said.
It was the Congress party that realised the vision of reserving one-third of the seats for women in panchayati raj institutions and urban local bodies, he said.
The CWC also deliberated on the West Asia crisis and the two-week ceasefire between US and Iran.
