Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Saturday shared details of a brief conversation with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju after the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die.
The exchange, he said, took place after the debate on women’s reservation in the House.
Posting on X along with a photograph of opposition MPs standing with Rijiju inside the Lok Sabha, Tharoor wrote: "A little post-adjournment gathering of Opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha with our charming Parliamentary Affairs Minister. When Kiren Rijiju explained why he and his party were calling the Opposition ‘mahila virodhi', it was pointed out to him that no one could ever call me anti-women! He conceded the point…”
He also made a broader remark on women’s role in public life: “Let’s face it, women are by far the better half of the species. They’re the improved models: Humans 2.0. They deserve representation in Parliament and in every institution.”
On the policy debate, Tharoor added: “Just don’t link their advancement to a mischievous and potentially dangerous Delimitation that could devastate our democracy.”
The remarks come after the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which proposed 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures from 2029 and an increase in Lok Sabha strength to 816 seats, failed to clear the Lok Sabha on Friday.
The bill received 298 votes in support and 230 against. A total of 528 members voted, falling short of the two-thirds majority mark of 352 needed for passage.
The proposal also included a plan to expand seats in state and Union Territory assemblies after a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census. The three-day special sitting of Parliament, held from April 16 to 18, was convened to take up the bill.
