Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday criticized the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Congress over the Opposition’s vote against the Constitution Amendment Bill that sought to expand the Lok Sabha, saying they denied women a share in the legislature to achieve their narrow political goals.
“It is certain that the Congress and the DMK have deprived sisters and mothers across the country, in Tamil Nadu (of reservation) in Parliament and assemblies. There was an opportunity to increase Tamil Nadu seats by 50 per cent (Lok Sabha). But they conspired to reduce Tamil Nadu seats by insisting on increasing them on the basis of 2026 census,” Shah said during a roadshow in support of his party’s candidate Mudakurishi in Tamil. Erode district in Nadu to hold assembly elections on April 23,
The BJP will continue to do so and ensure justice for the people of Tamil Nadu and the women of Tamil Nadu, Shah said.
Shah’s remarks came days after the 131st Constitution Amendment Bill – which sought to raise the Lok Sabha floor to 850 and implement 33% reservation for women in time for the 2029 elections – was defeated by a united opposition that remained unwavering despite Shah’s dramatic last-minute offer to incorporate a 50% proportional increase for all states in the bill.
The government had proposed increasing the total number of seats in the House of Representatives and state assemblies by 50%, and confirmed that the proportional representation of states in Parliament would not change. Since this assertion was not written into the bills, it became a subject of major contention between the government and the opposition, which accused the government of trying to use women’s reservation as a ruse to implement delimitation by bypassing the ongoing population census and allowing electoral districts to be redrawn on the basis of the 2011 population census.
Shah also criticized the ruling DMK’s first family for “dynastic politics”, saying Prime Minister M K Stalin was entirely focused on appointing his son Udhayanidhi as Prime Minister. “First Karunanidhi, then Stalin, and now his son. Such ruling parties cannot benefit Tamil Nadu’s democracy,” Shah said, asserting that Tamil Nadu had never benefited from such dynastic rule that continued generation after generation.
Later, in a social media post, Shah shared a video of his roadshow and said: “Enthusiastic support for BJP in Tamil Nadu.”
