Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday attacked the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Congress for preventing the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament, alleging that the two opposition parties had betrayed the women of the country and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would ensure justice.
Addressing an election rally in Modakurichi constituency in Tamil Nadu’s Erode district, Shah said the DMK-Congress union with a “narrow aim” had avoided passing the delimitation with evil intent.
“With the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, I give an assurance to all of you. The DMK-Congress party has avoided this rare opportunity which should have reached women. I will never allow this conspiratorial act. Definitely, the (women reservation) bill will be passed. The people of Tamil Nadu will receive benefits,” Shah, who was on a brief visit to the poll-bound state, said.
Shah further said that the BJP, under the leadership of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, has formed a “victorious alliance”.
“After the AIADMK-led BJP alliance forms its government (after elections), the new government will change the current situation where law and order in Tamil Nadu is very bad. When our government is formed, all the lost glories and specialties of the southern state will be recovered,” he said.
In an attack against Chief Minister M K Stalin, the Home Minister said that the Prime Minister’s only aim was to somehow make his son Udhayanidhi Stalin the next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
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“…First (DMK patriarch) M Karunanidhi was in power. Then, MK Stalin was there. After that, Karunanidhi’s grandson (Udhayanidhi) will come,” he said. “Tamil Nadu has gained absolutely no benefit from such family rule being implemented generation after generation,” he added.
Assuring that the BJP introduced the Women’s Bill in Parliament so that women from Tamil Nadu can participate independently in the political system, Shah asserted, “The force that prevented the passage of this bill in Parliament was the DMK and the Congress.”
“This good effort of reservation for the women community in the Legislative Council and in Parliament has been defeated by the DMK and Congress, not only in Tamil Nadu but across the country,” he said.
Stressing that the NDA had made a huge effort to conduct the census and ensure that through delimitation, 50% of the new constituencies for Tamil Nadu would be formed, he said, “However, with a narrow objective of not increasing the existing constituencies in Tamil Nadu through delimitation and not getting women more seats, the DMK and Congress avoided this bill with evil intent.”
Meanwhile, Congress MP from Virudhunagar Manickam Tagore said he is ready to give up the Virudhunagar seat to his sister if 33% reservation is implemented in all 543 assembly constituencies, as promised in the Women’s Reservation Act, 2023.
“But why are (Narendra) Modi and (Amit) Shah not willing to give up on Varanasi and Gandhinagar? Why this hesitation? Instead, they are talking about creating new seats – clearly avoiding real social change,” Tagore said in a post on Channel X on Sunday.
He said that women’s reservation cannot be symbolic or selective.
He added: “It must be fair, immediate and across existing constituencies and not delayed by demarcation or diversionary tactics. The battle is simple. True representation versus political expediency.”
