Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged the opposition not to give a political colour to the bills introduced in the Lok Sabha to implement the women’s reservation law, warning that those who had opposed it in the past had suffered electorally.
Speaking in the Lok Sabha debate, Modi warned the opposition it would "pay a price for a long time" for opposing the three bills to amend the women’s quota law and set up a delimitation commission.
"Since women's reservation came into discussion, those who opposed this in the past, were not forgiven by the women of the country and they ended up badly in the elections that followed," he said.
"In the last 25-30 years, women have become leaders at the grassroots level. They're not just here (in parliament)... they're there too, influencing your decisions. Those who oppose this today will have to pay the price for a long time," he added.
The prime minister also sought to ally concernces over delimitation, saying that no injustice would be done to any state — from east to west and north to south. "I want to say from this House today with a great sense of responsibility that whether it is the south, the north, the east, the west, small states or big states, this decision making process will not discriminate against any state or do injustice to anyone," he said.
Modi made it clear that the proportion of Lok Sabha seats in any state will not come down as a result of the delimitation exercise. "There will be no change in that proportion (of Lok Sabha seats) either, and the increase will also be in the same proportion," he said.
The prime minister said if any political party opposes the women quota law, it is quite natural that he (Modi) would be politically benefited. "If you oppose it, it is natural that I will gain political benefit, but if you walk along, no one will gain any political advantage," he said.
Modi said the ruling dispensation does not want credit for implementation of the women reservation law in 2029 and offered to give credit to the opposition. "We don't want credit. If you want me to use the word 'guarantee', I use the word 'guarantee'. If you want me to make a promise, I use the word 'promise'. Because if the intention is clear, there is no need to play games with words," he said.
In a jibe at the DMK’s black-flag protest, PM Modi said he thanked them for putting a “kala tika” on the bills to ward off the evil eye.
The prime minister said when the Parliament was discussing the women reservation legislation in 2023, people were saying, "hurry up".
"But it couldn't happen in 2024, because it can't be done in such a short time. Now in 2029, we have time. If we don't do it even in 2029, we can imagine what the situation will be like. The demand of the time is that we should not delay any further now," he said.
Lok Sabha on Thursday took up the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Delimitation Bill, 2026, for debate and passage.
According to the proposal, the strength of Lok Sabha will be increased to 815, of which 272 seats will be reserved for women -- a total of 33 per cent.
