Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday warned Opposition parties of political consequences if they opposed the bills aimed at fast-tracking reservation for women in legislatures, asserting “nari shakti” was closely watching them.
Modi’s combative remarks came amid rare unity within the Opposition, which has resolved to oppose the bouquet of three bills, which include a constitutional amendment.
These parties have clarified they have no objections to women’s reservation but to the accompanying delimitation plan that they fear will increase the proportion of parliamentary seats from the northern and western regions at the cost of the south and the east.
A constitutional amendment bill requires a two-thirds majority in both Houses to pass — a privilege the government lacks in either House.
On the opening day of the special April 16-18 session convened to get the bills passed, the Opposition resisted even the introduction of the bills in the Lok Sabha and forced a division, refusing to allow a voice vote.
The government benches secured 251 votes against 165. The bills will be taken up for passage in the Lok Sabha on Friday and the Rajya Sabha on Saturday.
Intervening in the debate, Modi warned that those opposing the bills would “have to pay the price for a long time” because women voters “will never forgive bad intentions on our part”.
In one of his shortest parliamentary speeches, lasting just over 30 minutes, Modi focused mainly on the potential political consequences for the dissenting parties.
“Here, some people think there is political self-interest in this. If they oppose it, it is natural that I will gain political benefit; but if they walk along, no one will gain any political advantage,” he said.
He gave the southern states “a guarantee that no injustice will be done to any state, from east to west, north to south”.
Home minister Amit Shah, who is piloting the delimitation-related provisions, later addressed the House to give the same assurance, citing numbers.
He said the five southern states held 129 seats, or 23.76 per cent, in the current 543-member Lok Sabha. Their share would rise to 195 seats, or 23.89 per cent, in the 816-member House after delimitation.
He said Tamil Nadu’s share would rise from 39 (7.18 per cent) to 59 (7.23 per cent). “So where is the decrease that DMK members have come dressed in black attire?” Shah said.
When Opposition members said the bills did not explicitly mention these numbers, Shah said: “I, Amit Shah, the home minister of India, am giving this assurance in the House.”
Shah said he would during his reply on Friday provide an explanation simple enough for “even a KG student” to understand.
Ruling side managers said the government could come up with an amendment in the House on Friday to give a written guarantee of “proportional” increase in the states’ shares of seats.
But the Opposition stood firm, asking why the initiative had been timed in the middle of Assembly elections. They argued that the “devil” lay in the proposal to redraw the constituencies based on the 2011 Census, which suggested that the states more successful with population control would lose out.
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said the states’ representation in Parliament had effectively been frozen on the basis of the 1971 census, with restrictions placed on altering that arrangement.
“Through this bill, all of that is about to be changed,” she said, warning that established procedures were being bypassed.
She alleged the constituencies of Opposition leaders in Assam had been redrawn arbitrarily for political gain, and claimed a similar plan for the entire country.
Priyanka said Modi’s speech implied “the BJP alone is the champion, proposer and the biggest supporter of women’s reservation” but, she added with a smile, a woman can instantly spot men who repeatedly try to entice them.
Samajwadi Party member Akhilesh Yadav alleged the government wanted to delay the current census, which is to include a caste census, to stall the demands for increased reservation volumes.
Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said: “I, too, have fought for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament. Why did you attach delimitation to the women’s bill? The reason is simple. You want to divide Bengal. You want to divide the country at large.”
Although only 5 of Trinamool’s 29 members were present in the House, party leaders said more would arrive for Friday’s vote. “We are determined to defeat the bills,” a party MP said.
To try and shape public perception, the government invited a large number of women — prominent figures and ordinary citizens — to witness the Lok Sabha proceedings.
Among them was badminton player Saina Nehwal. Groups of attendees were seen recording videos praising the Prime Minister and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for the initiative.
Government sources expressed confidence about the bills’ passage, indicating efforts to divide the Opposition. Party leaders suggested that even a defeat could yield political dividends.
A BJP member said the party would raise the Opposition’s “anti-women” stance in poll-bound Bengal and Tamil Nadu.