Shashi Tharoor has denied Union minister Kiren Rijiju’s claim that the Congress leader accepted his party was “anti-woman” during an informal conversation after the conclusion of the three-day sitting to implement the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, including delimitation and women’s reservation.

“I am sorry, but with the greatest respect for @KirenRijiju, at no point did I say or imply any such thing — and I have seven witnesses in the photograph who can confirm that!” Tharoor wrote on X.

The Congress MP was responding to a video interview shared by Rijiju, in which the parliamentary affairs minister recalled their exchange after a photo-op. “After we clicked pictures, he told me that no woman can accuse Shashi Tharoor of being mahila virodhi, to which I agreed. But I told him that your party is anti-woman,” Rijiju said, implying that Tharoor accepted his point.

The photograph in question had been shared earlier by Tharoor on April 18.

Calling it a “post-adjournment gathering of Opposition MPs” in the Lok Sabha, Tharoor said that when Rijiju accused the Opposition of being “mahila virodhi”, it was pointed out that no one could call him anti-women, a point he said the minister conceded.

Reaffirming the Congress’s commitment to women’s rights under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi, Tharoor said the women’s reservation bill was initiated and passed in the Rajya Sabha during the UPA government.

He also echoed the Opposition’s demand that the women’s quota be implemented without being linked to delimitation.