Kiren Rijiju’s comments come days after Shashi Tharoor shared a picture showing how he explained to the minister that no one can call him ‘Mahila Virudi’.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said in an interview that Congress MP Shashi Tharoor “admitted” to him in a conversation after the Parliament session that his party was “anti-women”. In an interview with the news agency that IRijiju shared what the two MPs talked about during the photo op after the Parliament session.
“Shashi Tharoor said that Congress may be anti-women, but no woman considers Shashi Tharoor to be anti-women,” Rijiju said, adding that he agreed with this assessment.
When asked if Tharoor accepted that the Congress is anti-women, Rijiju replied: “That’s what he meant… In a way he accepted that the Congress is anti-women, and I also accepted that it is not anti-women but his party is.”
Picture of Tharoor with Rijiju “The Magician”.
Rijiju’s remarks come on the back of a photo shared by Shashi Tharoor on April 18, explaining how he had pointed out to Kiren Rijiju that no one can call him ‘mahila virodhi’ (anti-women). On a lighter note, Tharoor referred to Rijiju as the “charming” Parliamentary Affairs Minister when he posted the photo of the interaction after the adjournment of the session.
“When @KirenRijiju explained why he and his party called the opposition ‘mahila virodhi’, I pointed out to him that no one can ever call me anti-women! He conceded the point…” Tharoor wrote.
The congressman lavished praise on the women, but stressed that the progress they had made should not be tied to “potentially dangerous” border demarcation.
The women’s quota bill failed to pass the Lok Sabha
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to amend the Women’s Quota Act was introduced in the Lok Sabha earlier this month. However, with only 298 members voting in favor of its passage, the bill failed to gain a special majority in Parliament.
“The Constitution Amendment Bill (131st Amendment) was not passed as it did not achieve two-thirds majority during voting in the House,” Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla told the House.
Reacting to this development, Kiren Rijiju said that the failure to pass the bill was a loss for women. He had also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said in a meeting that the Opposition, especially the Congress, would have to face the consequences of depriving women of their rights.
Two other bills, meant for delimitation and increasing the number of seats in the Lok Sabha, were not put to a vote in the House after the 131st Amendment Bill failed to get a two-thirds majority.
