HOWRAH (WB), April 18: The BJP’s “downfall” began in Parliament and will continue in Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday, seizing on the Centre’s failure to pass a Constitution amendment bill to implement women’s quota in legislatures from 2029.
Addressing rallies at Uluberia in Howrah, and Baruipur, Bhangore and Sonarpur in South 24 Parganas, she launched a blistering attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming the BJP’s failed bid to link women’s reservation with delimitation had exposed the Centre’s “real game” to divide the country and Bengal.
The TMC supremo alleged the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill was never really meant to empower women but was a political ploy to redraw the country’s electoral map and help the BJP cling to power.
“The bill was never meant for the empowerment of women. In the name of the Women’s Reservation Bill, they wanted to divide the country and divide Bengal. The fall of Modi has started from yesterday. In the coming days, we will dethrone the BJP,” Banerjee said, turning the NDA’s parliamentary setback into a battle cry for the assembly polls.
“Yesterday proved they are no longer a majority government. It is a minority government, somehow running with the support of two parties. They have been badly humiliated in Delhi. Now the people of Bengal should humiliate them again,” she said.
The BJP-led government at the Centre failed to secure the passage of the bill, which sought to provide 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies before the 2029 Lok Sabha polls through a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.The legislation, which also proposed increasing the strength of the Lok Sabha to 816, required a two-thirds majority but fell short, with 298 MPs voting in favour and 230 against. It needed 352 votes to pass.Banerjee repeatedly questioned why women’s reservation had been tied to delimitation, accusing the Centre of hiding its “real game” behind the language of women’s empowerment.
“We have fought for women’s reservation since 1998. We already have 50 per cent reservation for women in panchayats and municipalities. In the Lok Sabha, 37 per cent of our MPs are women. In the Rajya Sabha, women account for 46 per cent. Narendra Modi should learn from us,” she said.
“What was the need for clubbing delimitation with the Women’s Reservation Bill? Do they think they are too clever? They brought delimitation under the garb of the Women’s Reservation Bill because Narendra Modi could not have won with the existing number of seats. That is why they wanted to increase Lok Sabha seats to around 850. This was the underlying game,” the TMC supremo claimed.
Invoking the Bengali idiom ‘shak diye mach dhaka’ (covering the Sun with a sieve), Banerjee alleged the BJP was trying to conceal a far bigger political design.“This is not a Women’s Reservation Bill. They decide what the media should show and what it should not. Behind women’s reservation was their plan to divide India and divide Bengal,” she said, adding that having sensed the design early, the TMC sent most of its MPs to attend the Parliament session.
“I was asked to send 20 MPs. I sent 21 MPs. They all went despite election campaigning because Bengal had to be protected. We will not allow the nation to be divided, no matter what,” Banerjee said.With Prime Minister Modi scheduled to address the nation on Saturday evening, Banerjee sharpened her attack further.“I have heard Modi will speak today. His speeches are nothing but a barrage of lies. Through delimitation, they wanted to divide the country. They are the real tukde tukde gang. The Women’s Reservation Bill was only a front,” she said. (PTI)
