A day after the Narendra Modi government’s Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill failed in the Lok Sabha – the first defeat of a government bill in 12 years – the opposition on Saturday tried to take control of the narrative, with Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra issuing a pointed public challenge to the government.
“They should bring the old Women’s Bill – which was passed by all parties in 2023 – immediately on Monday. Call Parliament on Monday, bring the bill and see who is anti-women. We will all vote and support you,” he told news agency ANI.
He accused the BJP-led NDA of trying to mislead voters in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, where polling is scheduled later this month, by branding the opposition parties as “anti-women”. Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK also introduced a bill to introduce quota within the current strength of 543 in the Lok Sabha. Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress said it also supports a 50% quota, if it is not linked to the 2011 census-based delimitation.
The “old bill” that Priyanka Gandhi was referring to is the Nari Shakti Vandan Act or the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act 2023, which already provides 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. In fact it was notified this week.
The reason it could not be implemented is that the BJP-led government had placed a condition requiring a fresh census and delimitation before it could be implemented – a condition the opposition says it did not want even then.
Priyanka, what did Rahul say?
At a press conference in New Delhi on Saturday, Priyanka Gandhi urged the government to act without delay: “If you want to do something concrete, bring back the bill that was passed unanimously in 2023, which was supported by all parties. If you need to make some small amendments in it, so that it can be implemented now, do it. Give women their rights now,” she said.
She also called the failure of the new bills a “black day” for the government, echoing a term used by the BJP against the Congress-led opposition: “…because for the first time they have got the blow they deserve. Today women’s problems are increasing rapidly. Women are not stupid. They see everything. That PR and media hype will not work now.”
Priyanka Gandhi reiterated that the opposition’s stand is not against women’s reservation but against linking it with delimitation and census.
The Wayanad (Kerala) MP said, “They thought that if it is passed, they will win. If it is not passed, they will become ‘saviors of women’ by branding other parties as ‘anti-women’… We know it is not easy to be a protector of women.”
His brother was opposition leader Rahul Gandhi. Meanwhile, at an election rally in Ponneri, Tamil Nadu, Where he said: “The Modi government introduced a new bill, claiming it was a women’s (quota) bill, whereas this bill has already been passed in 2023. Hidden within (the new bill) was the issue of delimitation, which was aimed at reducing the representation of Tamil Nadu and weakening the southern, smaller and north-eastern states. We defeated that.”
Letter to PM Modi
The Congress-led Bharat Bloc of non-NDA parties further announced that they will formally write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi demanding implementation of the original 2023 law, without delimitation.
For example, Tamil Nadu’s ruling party DMK also sought to introduce a new bill to this effect, demanding immediate quota within the existing Lok Sabha member count of 543. But Parliament was adjourned sine die on the third day of the special session called specifically on the women’s quota issue.
Party leaders from across the alliance held a meeting, in which Congress Parliamentary Party President Sonia Gandhi thanked all the allies for remaining united.
For the record, several Indian block parties held simultaneous press conferences to state that they support women’s reservation, but not in the guise of delimitation exercise, as they believe. Designed to redraw India’s electoral map in favor of BJP.
DMK’s big step, Tharoor’s taunt!
It was also challenged legislatively by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) as a party MP from Tamil Nadu introduced a private member’s Constitution Amendment Bill in the Rajya Sabha, proposing 33% women’s reservation in the existing 543-seat Lok Sabha from the next election – without any census, without any delimitation or expansion of the House.
Contrary to the government’s 2023 law, dmk bill There were even calls for making the reservation permanent instead of limiting it to 15 years.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, Who spoke out vocally against delimitation-caveat On Friday, she took a dig at the government online in her own style on Saturday regarding women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha.
She posted a photo on Instagram with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, which she described as “attractive”. He said Rijiju explained why he and his party BJP were calling the opposition “anti-women”.
Tharoor wrote, “He was told that no one could ever call me an anti-woman! He agreed.”
“Let’s face it, women are by far the better half of the species. They are better models: Humans 2.0. They deserve representation in Parliament and every institution. Just don’t conflate their progress with a mischievous and potentially dangerous delineation that could devastate our democracy,” he said.
government position
BJP’s message has been sent after not getting the approval of two-thirds majority in Parliament. well coordinated. Home Minister Amit Shah accused Congress, TMC, DMK and Samajwadi Party of stopping the historic reform.
He said, “The opposition will have to face the anger of women not only in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, but at every level, in every election… This insult to women power will not stop here, it will go far.”
So far, the government has not explained why the 2023 law cannot be amended to remove the census-delimitation condition, and instead it can be applied to existing seats.
Amit Shah argued in Parliament that increasing the seats by 50% would mean that no state would lose its proportionate share. This was one of the major concerns in the southern states where population-control measures have been implemented better than in North India, where the BJP has its core base.
Amit Shah said the expansion would give Tamil Nadu 59 seats with 20 reserved for women instead of 13 reserved seats out of the current 39. This will protect the positions of existing leaders while giving more space to women, the BJP has essentially argued.
Congress’s KC Venugopal clearly marked a contradiction in the Lok Sabha. He said, “You yourself made the provision that there will be a census, after that there will be delimitation, then there will be reservation. We never said this. We had said at that time itself that we want women’s reservation till the 2024 elections.”
Sonia Gandhi had said the same in a newspaper article on April 13, three days before the start of the special session: “Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge had strongly demanded that the reservation provision be implemented from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections itself. The government itself did not agree to this for well-known reasons. Why did it take 30 months for the Prime Minister to take his U-turn?”
The question never goes away
But one issue remains clear – and even passage of the 2023 bill won’t resolve it.
The Nari Shakti Vandan Act provides for reservation within the existing SC and ST quota: one-third of the seats already reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will go to women from those communities.
It does not provide any equivalent facility for women belonging to other backward classes. OBC has no political reservation In Parliament or State Assemblies. The Constitution reserves SC and ST seats under Articles 330 and 332. No equivalent provision exists for OBCs.
OBC sub-quota within women’s reservation is constitutionally impossible without first creating OBC political reservation – which itself requires a separate constitutional amendment.
This is why parties like Samajwadi Party and RJD voted in favor of the 2023 bill, while also raising objections to it.
This week too, Akhilesh Yadav raised the demand in Parliament, “What if they do not count OBCs and Muslims among half the population, i.e. women? We want that Muslims and OBC women should get reservation – this is our demand.”
The 2026 caste census – the first nationwide caste census since 1931 – is expected to generate the data needed to operationalize this demand. State surveys in Bihar and Telangana have shown that backward classes constitute about 60% of the population. A national figure in that category would create virtually irresistible political pressure for OBC political reservation.
The government was reportedly trying to sidestep that question by demanding delimitation based on the 2011 census, before caste data was available. “Moving ahead with delimitation first could be seen as a way to lock in structural benefits before new data reshapes expectations, alliances and claims to political power across states and social groups,” RJD Rajya Sabha member Manoj Kumar Jha told PTI earlier this week.
The question of delimitation itself has remained unresolved for 50 years. This was last done in the 1970s and then extended twice by 25 years. Now this will happen after 2026 anyhow. Apart from the demand for OBC quota, there are other fundamental questions which remain unresolved. Southern states fear that they will lose proportionate share in the long run if only population is used as the basis for delimitation.
Amit Shah said the straight increase of 50% would not change the state-wise share, and at the last minute he even promised to write it into law.
Obviously by that time it was too late. Parties want more discussion on delimitation. Congress, TMC and DMK have said that the women’s quota can be implemented even before that.
