Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Sunday lashed out at the Congress over the defeat of the 131st Constitution (Amendment) Bill, and asserted that the Opposition parties should not remain in illusion that they have stopped women’s reservation in Parliament and assemblies.
Accompanied by BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj, the chief minister alleged at a press conference h that the Congress does not want strong representation of women in Parliament and state assemblies.
The BJD and the Congress, on the other hand, claimed that the BJP was using women as a shield to get the delimitation bill passed, which was foiled by the Opposition.
Under the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, Lok Sabha seats were to be increased to up to 816 from the current 543 to “operationalise” the women’s reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats were also to be increased in state and UT assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
The Bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha Friday night.
“Those who think that we have stopped it now are wrong”, Majhi said.
Asserting that “Modi hai to Mumkin hai” (everything is possible for Prime Minister Narendra Modi), the chief minister said, “The Congress party has two prominent women leaders — Sonia Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi. But, the party is still against making provision of reservation for other women in politics. This is unfortunate.”
Noting that half of the population is women in the country, Majhi said there would have been 272 women MPs in Parliament had the bill passed.
“Why do Congress and its allies oppose women reservation bill while they (women) have already achieved success in all spheres of life. The whole world has seen the heroic acts of India’s women power in the Operation Sindoor. It is time to give rights and respect to women,” the chief minister said.
Apart from Congress, Majhi said the parties like the TMC, SP and others are already the target of women’s anger across the country.
“They should remember that women do not forgive anti-women activities in which the Congress and its allies are involved in. The Nari Shakti will give a befitting reply to Congress at the right time,” the chief minister said.
Majhi highlighted Modi’s women empowerment policies and pointed out how the Prime Minister saved the lives of lakhs of Muslim women by abolishing the triple ‘talaq’ system.
BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj was also critical of the Congress and its allies.
“They have backstabbed women’s future, and Congress will certainly be punished. Women do not forget their humiliation, and they will give a befitting reply,” Swaraj said.
Claiming that women were deprived of their rights for 40 years, Swaraj alleged that they were also denied the right this time due to the Congress.
She asserted that the delimitation exercise was not a “conspiracy” of the BJP as alleged, but a provision of the law under the Constitution.
One needs to undertake delimitation before reserving seats in the Parliament and Assemblies, she said.
Swaraj came down heavily on Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav for his alleged appeasement policy and demand of reservation for Muslim women.
Senior Congress leader and MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati said, “The bill that was defeated April 17 was not the women’s reservation bill. It was passed unanimously in 2023. Rahul Gandhi has defused their evil design, for which the BJP is shouting at the top of its voice. The BJP was using women as a shield to get the delimitation bill passed, which was foiled by Congress and the Opposition.”
At a separate press conference, the BJD rejected the BJP’s allegation that the women’s reservation bill was defeated due to Opposition parties.
“The manner in which the BJP-led NDA government introduced the women’s reservation bill in Parliament by linking it with the Delimitation Bill was nothing short of a drama or farce,” said the BJD’s political affairs committee member and former minister Tukuni Sahu.
Former BJD MP Sharmistha Sethi accused the BJP of deceiving women through political manipulation.
“The Nari Shakti Vandan Act was passed in September 2023 with the support of all political parties. It was said that it would be implemented only after a new census and subsequent delimitation. However, the central government suddenly presented the women’s reservation bill along with the delimitation bill during a special session of Parliament,” she said.
While there was no disagreement among political parties regarding the women’s reservation bill, there were several objections to the delimitation bill, Sethi said.