NEW DELHI: Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju recently engaged in a post-session discussion with Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, using the conversation to critique the opposition following the defeat of the Women’s Reservation Amendment Bill. Rijiju suggested that Tharoor “agreed” with his claim that the Congress party may be perceived as anti-women.
In an interview with ANI, Rijiju recounted their meeting in which he noted, “We took a picture. Shashi Tharoor, when the parliament session was over, in the hall, he told me… but no woman will consider Shashi Tharoor as opposed to women. I said, yes, no one will call you women’s opposition.” Rijiju interpreted this to mean that while Congress could be viewed as anti-women, Tharoor himself was not seen in that light.
The Minister also criticized opposition parties for their votes against the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which aimed to introduce a 33% reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies starting from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. “Who would think that someone would vote against women? We don’t have a two-thirds majority… But who would have thought even in a dream that Congress, TMC, Samajwadi Party would vote against women?” Rijiju said, asserting that these parties “will have to face the anger of women” for their opposition to the bill.
Rijiju rejected critiques regarding the bill’s linking of women’s reservation to delimitation, arguing that the 2023 law clearly states delimitation will occur after the 2026 census. “Why was it not opposed then?” he asked. Addressing concerns about the impact on southern states, he asserted that the government had clarified that seat numbers would uniformly increase across states, along with the 33% reservation for women.
On calls for implementing women’s reservation within the current strength of 543 Lok Sabha seats, Rijiju argued that the existing system is outdated. “Seats were fixed on the basis of 1971 population… some seats have 30 lakh or 40 lakh voters. Is this how democracy should work?” he questioned, highlighting disparities in population-to-seat ratios compared to other nations.
Opposition parties had voted against the Constitution Amendment Bill during a division in the Lok Sabha on April 17, with 298 MPs in favor and 230 against, resulting in its defeat. Consequently, the government announced it would not pursue two other related bills aimed at increasing the Lok Sabha’s strength from 543 to 816 seats, which would include the 33% reservation for women and delimitation based on the 2011 census.
