Surguja (Chhattisgarh) [India], April 19 (ANI): Congress leader and former Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister T S Singh Deo accused the Centre of “pretence” on women’s reservation, alleging that the government lacked genuine intent to implement the measure ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
His remarks came after the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill, 2026, failed to secure the required two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
Speaking to ANI in response to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address to the nation, Deo alleged that the government had used the promise of women’s reservation for political gain rather than implementation.
“If you truly wanted to protect women’s interests, you would have implemented women’s reservation immediately after 2023 and given women reservations in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. But you intended to gain political advantage from it. However, you failed to achieve this because you never wanted to provide women’s reservations, but only created a pretence. If the Prime Minister is a true well-wisher of women, he should implement it today. The next election is going to be held in Uttar Pradesh. Announce today that you will implement one-third reservation in the Uttar Pradesh elections,” he said.
Echoing similar sentiments, West Bengal Congress president Subhankar Sarkar criticised the BJP for allegedly attempting to leverage the Bill for electoral gains. “They wanted to take advantage of it in the Bengal Assembly elections. This is very unfortunate. All the opposition parties have opposed it together, and I congratulate all the MPs who are opposing it,” Sarkar said.
The controversy follows the defeat of the Constitution Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday, where 298 members voted in favour and 230 against, falling short of the required two-thirds majority. Om Birla confirmed that the Bill did not pass, after which the government decided not to proceed with the linked Delimitation Bill and Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill.
In his address to the nation, Prime Minister Modi sharply criticised the Opposition for blocking the legislation, stating they had “crushed” the dreams of women despite the government’s sincere efforts. He termed the defeat a “direct blow to the self-respect of women” and warned that women voters would remember the “insult to their pride.”
“The sin committed by the opposition will bring them punishment from people,” Modi said, asserting that the proposed amendment under the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was aimed at granting long-pending rights and strengthening women’s political participation. He also accused the Congress of historically obstructing key reforms, alleging that its approach of “delay, diversion, obstruction” had hindered India’s development.
The proposed legislation sought to increase the Lok Sabha’s strength from 543 to 816 seats with 33 per cent reservation for women, alongside delimitation based on the 2011 Census. (ANI)