Oppn Slams Modi S Women S Quota Appeal Fadnavis Calls Their Stand Hypocrisy

MUMBAI: Opposition parties in Maharashtra have slammed prime minister Narendra Modi’s “call of the hour” and appeal to all political parties to support 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. Pointing out that the Bill had already been passed unanimously in Parliament in 2023, they questioned why it had not been implemented so far.

Defending the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who leads the BJP-led Mahayuti government in Maharashtra, called the opposition’s stand “hypocrisy”. He said if the opposition genuinely supports women’s reservation, they should back the proposed Delimitation Bill, arguing that delimitation is one of the conditions for implementing the legislation.

Modi, in his Independence Day address on Saturday, said, “Reservation for women is the call of the hour. I appeal to all parties to support it and take credit for it.” His appeal held a clever twist as the women’s quota bill can be implemented only after the completion of a census and the hugely controversial delimitation exercise as proposed by the BJP-led NDA government.

The government is now seeking to introduce a constitutional amendment to enable women’s reservation from 2029, based on existing population data, along with the proposed Delimitation Bill.

Reacting to Modi’s appeal, Supriya Sule, working president of the NCP (SP), a constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), said “The Women’s Reservation Bill was passed by both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha in 2023, and that too unanimously. All political parties are on the same page on this issue, and everyone wants to see the reservation implemented.”

The Shiv Sena (UBT), another MVA constituent, too hit back at Modi. The party’s MP Sanjay Raut remarked, “The Bill (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam) was cleared by Parliament unanimously in 2023. I want to ask the Prime Minister why it has still not been implemented.”

The centre’s decision to link women’s reservation with the delimitation exercise has drawn fierce resistance from the opposition, which believes delimitation could significantly alter the distribution of parliamentary seats among the states, to the advantage of the ruling dispensation.

They further argue that redrawing constituencies based on population size would penalise the southern and eastern states, which have succeeded in controlling population growth. The opposition also argues that delimitation in its present form would shift parliamentary power disproportionately to the northern states and disrupt the country’s federal balance.

Fadnavis, however, rejected the opposition’s argument and said that those supporting women’s reservation should also support the constitutional amendment required to bring it into effect. “In 2023, the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed with two conditions for its implementation. One was the completion of a fresh census and delimitation exercise. Since the census was taking time, a constitutional amendment bill was brought in to enable implementation using the existing census data. However, some opposition parties did not support it, and the bill was defeated because it could not secure the required two-thirds majority,” Fadnavis said. “The opposition was fully aware of these two conditions and their current stand is nothing but hypocrisy.”