New Delhi, Apr 16: The Congress on Thursday alleged that the government wants to “bulldoze” delimitation in the name of women’s reservation, and asserted that if it is really committed to implementing the women’s quota law it should do so immediately on the basis of the current strength of Lok Sabha.
The opposition party also alleged that the BJP was using delimitation as a “political weapon” to increase its influence.
Initiating the discussion on the three bills moved to amend the women’s quota law and set up a delimitation commission, Gogoi said the bills are “anti-women, anti-caste census, anti-Constitution and anti-federal structure of the country”.
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to tweak the women’s quota law was introduced in 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.
In his remarks in the Lower House, Gogoi accused the government of attempting to take political advantage through delimitation and gerrymandering.
“What they did through delimitation in Jammu and Kashmir and in Assam, the want to do in the whole country in the name of women’s reservation,” the Congress’ deputy leader in the House said, adding the government’s actions were “shameful”.
He pointed out that the government’s bill states that amendments were needed as delimitation would take time.
“What that means is that you are not in favour of women’s reservation in reality and are creating obstacles repeatedly,” Gogoi said.
He accused the BJP of indulging in “politics of symbolism” and said these three bills show that they are not aimed at women’s reservation but to get delimitation done through the “backdoor”.
Gogoi alleged that the government is bulldozing delimitation in the name of women’s reservation. The Congress leader alleged that the BJP in the past had used delimitation as a weapon to further its political ambitions.
“Our party is in favour of women’s reservation but you must make it simple. It should be implemented on the current strength of the House — 543 — and must not be linked to delimitation,” Gogoi asserted. He said his party has no objection to the government wanting to implement the women’s reservation for the 2029 polls but it should not be linked to delimitation.
He said the other apprehension is that the government is not in favour of caste census and does not want to implement it.
Gogoi accused the government of slowly weakening the Constitution.
Taking a swipe at Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gogoi said it seemed from the minister’s speech that women’s bill is being discussed for the first time and is being considered for the first time.
“But in 2023, they made the same arguments, what the home minister (Amit Shah) said last time, the law minister repeated those remarks. It was said that the prime minister (Narendra Modi) had taken a big step and women’s reservation would be finally given but it was not done,” he said.
In 2023, the Modi government had said that a census would be conducted, delimitation would take place, and then women’s reservation would be implemented, Gogoi said.
“In 2026, the Modi government is stating that we should try to bring women’s reservation before the census. The only difference in the meantime is that, under pressure from the INDIA bloc and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi Ji, the Modi government has been forced to conduct a caste-based census, but the truth is that the Modi government was never in favour of conducting a caste census,” he said.
“The question is— where did the number for increasing seats in the House come from? Did this number come from Nagpur, from some parliamentary report, or did it fall from the sky? How is the government deciding on its own how many seats there will be
The Modi government has made delimitation its weapon. The examples of Jammu-Kashmir and Assam are right in front of everyone,” he said.
“It was not the intention of the framers of our Constitution that delimitation should become a weapon of any political party. The intention behind delimitation was that as the population grows, the boundaries of Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha constituencies should be redrawn accordingly, so that people receive administrative convenience,” he said.
Citing examples of J&K and Assam, Gogoi said it was clear in both states that the Modi government is using delimitation to strengthen its political power and its roots.
The Bills were introduced after a fiery 40-minute debate following which the opposition pressed for the division of votes to introduce the Constitutional (131st Amendment) Bill.
The Bill was later introduced with 251 members supporting it and 185 members voting against the introduction. (PTI)
