Nagpur: Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar on Sunday called PM Narendra Modi’s April 18 address on the Women’s Reservation Bill “crocodile tears”, asking whether a woman could ever lead the RSS — the ideological fountainhead of the BJP — as a test of the ruling party’s genuine commitment to women’s empowerment.Wadettiwar, speaking to reporters in Nagpur, said the BJP’s stance on women’s reservation is deceptive. “The party that nurtures Manuvadi ideology and follows Manu Smriti is fooling people on women’s reservation,” he said. The Bramhapuri MLA alleged that while the bill was passed in 2023 with the support of all parties, the BJP was now hiding behind the delimitation process as a pretext to delay implementation. He claimed that BJP is using the constitutional amendment as cover to redraw constituencies to suit its own electoral interests.Wadettiwar dismissed Modi’s address as hollow. “Those were crocodile tears. Around 20 BJP netas face allegations of crimes against women, yet no action has been taken against them,” he said. The former minister invoked Congress’ historical credentials — giving the country its first woman Prime Minister, President and Lok Sabha Speaker — and asked who opposed women’s reservation during the tenure of Manmohan Singh as the PM. He cited Assam as evidence of the BJP’s real agenda, alleging that the BJP govt in the state had already redrawn constituency boundaries to suit its political interests under the cover of delimitation.Revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule countered by saying that the govt’s intention on women’s reservation was unambiguous — to put more women in elected positions — dismissing the opposition’s charges as politically motivated.
