BJP’s Telangana unit president N Ramchander Rao was on Saturday placed under house arrest to prevent him from joining a protest march up to Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s official residence in Jubilee Hills to stage a protest against the defeat of the 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill in Parliament on Friday, people familiar with the matter said.
Dozens of BJP workers from the party’s women’s wing and other right-wing activists who tried to go ahead with the march were also arrested and released later in the afternoon, they added.
Speaking to reporters at his residence, which witnessed heavy police deployment early in the day, Rao alleged that the Congress is an “anti-women” party and is trapped in a “slave mentality” towards serving one’s family.
“Congress is adopting double standards. While the party supported the Women’s Reservation Bill in 2023, its recent vote against it reveals a deep-seated bias against ordinary women entering politics,” Rao said.
He also dismissed Congress’s arguments regarding North-South divisions and “hybrid formulas” as mere distractions designed to derail the fundamental issue of 33% reservation for women.
“For the past 30 years, the Congress has delayed justice. They fear that if ordinary women stand up, their family-centric politics will collapse,” Rao commented, urging Telangana women to remember this “betrayal.”
Meanwhile, in Andhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu participated in a protest rally over the issue at Nedadaphuli in East Godavari district.
The rally was organized by the NDA alliance partners, where Naidu joined the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Jana Sena Party. Several prominent leaders, including BJP state president BVN Madhav, ministers Kandula Durgesh and Nimala Ramanaidu, and senior leader Somu Veeraju, participated in the demonstration.
Addressing the gathering, Naidu described Friday as a “dark day in the history of Indian democracy.” He accused opposition parties of betraying women, and called on them to apologize to women, noting that political groups that treat women as mere vote banks undermine democratic values. “The opposition has effectively managed to erase a three-decade-old ambition to preserve women through its actions,” he said.
