The Congress on Tuesday lashed out at the government for not having shared with MPs the Constitution amendment bill or bills that would be brought in the special sitting of Parliament this week, saying this makes a "complete mockery of democracy" and reveals the "bulldozer mentality" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the "special session" of Parliament will begin on April 16, when the election campaign in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will be at its peak.
The Modi government has rejected the Opposition's perfectly reasonable and legitimate requests to convene an all-Party meeting after the elections are completed, fifteen days from today, he said on X.
"Till this morning, the Modi government has NOT shared with MPs the Constitution Amendment Bill(s) they are supposed to be debating and voting upon," Ramesh said.
"This makes a complete mockery of democracy and reveals the bulldozer mentality of the PM - who once claimed he was non-biological and now says he is a non-grihasthi," he said.
Congress's whip in the Lok Sabha, Manickam Tagore, also slammed the government over the "special session" being "rushed", right at the peak of election campaigning in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
"A reasonable demand for an all-party meeting after elections has been rejected. Even now, MPs have not been given the Constitution Amendment Bills they are expected to debate and vote on. This is not democracy. This is bulldozer governance," Tagore said.
"The Congress party has always stood firmly for Women's Reservation - It is passed and settled. But delimitation is a far more sensitive exercise that requires wide consultation, consensus, and transparency," he said.
"What we are witnessing instead is secrecy and denial; denial of representation to 150+ Backward Class women who could enter the Lok Sabha if proper caste data and due process are followed," Tagore said.
"Parliament is not a rubber stamp. It is the foundation of people's voice. Undermining it weakens the very idea of India," he said.
The Congress leaders' remarks come a day after Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi asserted that the real issue with the government's move to bring bills in a special sitting of Parliament is delimitation, not women's reservation.
She claimed that the reported delimitation proposal is "extremely dangerous" and an "assault" on the Constitution.
Gandhi stressed that any delimitation involving an increase in the strength of the Lok Sabha must be politically, and not just arithmetically, equitable.
In an article published in The Hindu, she also alleged that Modi's real intention is to further "delay and derail" the caste census.
The prime minister is making appeals to opposition parties to support bills that the government wants to "bulldoze" through Parliament in a "special session" when the election campaign in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will be at its peak, she said in the article.
"There can be only one reason for the extraordinary hurry, which is to derive political advantage and place the Opposition on the defensive," she alleged.
The Budget Session of Parliament has been extended, and a special three-day sitting of the House has been convened from April 16 to 18, during which amendments to the 'Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam', more commonly known as the Women Reservation Act, will be brought for its implementation in 2029.
While elections in Puducherry, Assam and Kerala were held on April 9, polls in West Bengal would be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29.
In Tamil Nadu, polls will be held in a single phase on April 23.
