Penning an opinion piece in The Hindu, Sonia Gandhi alleged that the Opposition’s call for an all-party meeting was turned down by the Centre, and called it Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “one-upmanship.”
She clarified that the Opposition does not stand against the idea of reserving 33 per cent seats for women MPs in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures; it is against the delimitation process before the 2027 census.
Excerpt of her article shared by Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge read, “Opposition leaders have written to the government not once but thrice requesting that an all-party meeting be convened after the last phase of elections is over in West Bengal on April 29, to discuss what the new proposals of the government are. But that perfectly reasonable request has been turned down. Instead, the Prime Minister has resorted to writing op-eds, making appeals to political parties, and organising sammelans. It is an underhand tactic that reflects the Prime Minister’s one-upmanship and his ‘my way or the highway’ approach to decision-making.”
Sonia Gandhi pointed out that conducting delimitation based on information “unofficially available” will be “extremely dangerous.” She asked the Central government to bring the Bill to amend the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in the Monsoon Session of Parliament, instead of the special session from April 16 to 18.
“The monsoon session of Parliament will begin in mid-July. The heavens will not fall if the government were to call an all-party meeting after April 29 (after the polling in West Bengal) to discuss its proposals with the Opposition, allowing time for a public debate, and then have the Constitution Amendment Bills considered in the monsoon session. There is simply no justification, except narrative management during troubled times, for this tearing hurry to bulldoze extremely far-reaching changes to our polity. The process is deeply flawed and anti-democratic. Reservation for women is not the issue here. That has already been settled. The real issue is delimitation, which, based on the information unofficially available, is extremely dangerous and an assault on the Constitution itself,” Sonia Gandhi wrote.
Sharing her opinion piece, Kharge wrote on X, “Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi asserts that the real issue why the Modi Govt is calling a special session of Parliament is not Women’s Reservation but delimitation and delaying & derailing Caste Census.” This comes as the Parliament is set to meet for a three-day special session from April 16, with a focus on the Amendment Bill to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023.
The Government has planned two major amendments. Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam tied women’s reservation to the new census and delimitation. Due to census delays, the plan is to proceed with the 2011 census data.
The Lok Sabha seats may increase from 543 to 816 post-amendment.
A separate Delimitation Bill will be introduced. Both bills need to be passed as Constitutional amendments for women’s reservation. Keeping up with the status quo, there is no provision for OBC reservation, and SC/ST reservation will continue.
On Sunday, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju wrote to Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, urging him to support the government’s move.
