Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Friday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling the proposed bills to amend women’s reservation bill alongside the delimitation exercise a “panic reaction” to change the country’s electoral map and that the “magician has been caught.”
Speaking in the Lok Sabha debate, Gandhi said the legislation had little to do with advancing women’s empowerment and accused the BJP of being “scared of erosion” of its political strength, adding that the government was attempting to “rejig” India's political map through the proposed changes.
“Some truths need to be told here. This is not a women's bill; this has nothing to do with empowerment of women. This is an attempt to change the electoral map,” Rahul said.
Asserting that the BJP knew the bill could not be passed, the Congress MP called the legislation a “panic reaction” to redraw the electoral map and project the Prime Minister’s pro-women image.
“The BJP knew, they knew very clearly that this bill actually cannot be passed. They're not stupid. They knew every opposition person would oppose it. This bill cannot be passed. This was a panic reaction because the Prime Minister, at any cost, needed to send two messages. Number one, he needed to change the electoral map of India. And number two, he needed to send a message again that he is pro-women. Why he is doing that, I will leave to your imagination,” he said.
“The truth is the magician has been caught. The magician of Balakot, the magician of demonetisation, the magician of Sindoor has suddenly got caught,” Rahul added.
In a friendly banter, Rahul Gandhi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and he didn't have "the wife issue", as the Congress MP emphasised that everyone has learnt from women in their lives.
"All of us in this room have been influenced, taught, and have learnt a lot from women in our lives... from mothers, sisters, wives," Gandhi said.
"Of course, the prime minister and myself don't have the wife issue, so we don't get that input, but we have our mothers and sisters," he said while referring to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju's light-hearted remark that he got a scolding at home as he did not pen a poem for his wife like Union minister Arjun Ram Meghwal did.
However, Gandhi continued to sharpen his attack, accusing the government of signalling to southern, northeastern and smaller states that their representation would be reduced to keep the BJP in power. He termed the move “nothing short of an anti-national act” and said the Opposition would unite to defeat it in Parliament.
“So, I want to assure my friends, brothers, and sisters across the country, especially those in the southern states, smaller states, and northeastern states, that they should not worry. We are not going to allow this. We will not allow any attack on the Union of India. You are equal participants in the Union of India, and no one will dare to undermine your representation,” Gandhi said.
The LoP urged the government to bring back the 2023 women’s reservation bill for immediate implementation, saying the Opposition would support its passage “this second.”
He also alleged that the government was seeking to avoid giving adequate power and representation to OBCs, and was attempting to ensure that a caste census had no bearing on political representation for the next 15 years.
“It is a historical fact that how Indian society treated Dalits and OBCs and their women... What is being attempted here is a bypass of the caste census. Here, they are trying to avoid giving power and representation to my OBC brothers and sisters and taking power from them,” Rahul said.
“Amit Shah ji says that the caste census has begun. He repeated twice, trying to be clever, saying that houses don't have caste. The point is whether or not the caste census is going to be used in representation in Parliament and state assemblies. And now, what you are trying to do is that caste census has nothing to do with representation for the next 15 years,” he added.
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to tweak the women's quota law was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday after a division of votes.
Two ordinary bills -- the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill to implement the proposed amended women's quota law in Union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir -- were also introduced in the House.
