The Constitutional Amendment Bill to increase the total number of seats in Lok Sabha that has not been passed in Parliament should not be seen as a failure of the Union government, but rather as a loss for women who have been deprived of participation in decision-making, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Saturday.
The minister went on to say that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while chairing the Union Cabinet meeting, also noted that the Opposition, especially the Congress, will have to face the consequences of depriving women of their rights.
A day after the Central government’s attempt to push the Constitution Amendment Bill to expand the size of the Lok Sabha and accelerate 33% reservation for women failed, the minister doubled down on blaming the opposition.
He added: “Not passing the bills is not a failure of our government or our party. We feel sad because it is a loss for women who were denied participation in decision-making. But the opposition will have to face the consequences as well.”
The minister said that Congress in particular will have to confront women who are aggrieved and angry about this development. He told the media: “They are celebrating the defeat of women, and this is evidence of their anti-women mentality.”
For its part, Congress accused the government of conspiring to change the country’s federal structure by submitting a draft border demarcation law. However, the government maintained that its proposal to increase seats by 50% would have ensured that the states’ proportional representation remained unchanged.
Criticizing the Congress for suggesting that the government had refused to discuss the issue with its opponents, Rijiju said he had reached out to leaders of all major parties to seek their support for the proposed bills.
“I spoke to the Congress several times. They wrote letters (Karge urging the government to hold an all-party meeting) but did not attend any meeting. They refused to attend and then claimed that there was no discussion…” he said.
The minister also explained that he chose to meet the leaders individually because he wanted to address their concerns.
He said, “How we deal with the various parties will be decided by us. How can they dictate that we follow a certain path of consultation? We met individually so that we could discuss the substantive details in detail… We wanted to negotiate and the meetings (with other parties) were fruitful.”
He said that Congress had asked other parties not to attend the meetings called by the government to discuss this issue.
Responding to the allegation that the government was looking to demarcate boundaries instead of implementing quotas for women, the minister said: “The Home Minister explained in detail how the number of seats has been frozen and we need to adjust… The population of the country has increased three times. And the Congress is very smart – they understood why demarcation of boundaries should be separated from the ongoing population census.”
