"Congress, their allies will suffer for sin committed against women": Union Minister Sonowal after Constitution Amendment bill defeated in LS

Ranchi (Jharkhand) [India], April 19 : Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal launched a sharp attack on the Congress and its allies, including the Samajwadi Party, TMC, and DMK, accusing them of "insulting" the women of India after the 131st Constitution Amendment Bill to implement women's reservation failed to pass in Lok Sabha.

Sonowal claimed the opposition parties have been exposed for "conspiring" to commit injustice against women for decades and warned that Congress would "suffer for the sin" of obstructing the Bill.

Addressing the press conference, Sonowal said, "Congress and its allies insulted women. They raised their voice against this step we took. They hatched a conspiracy. They insulted the women of this country. Congress, SP, TMC and DMK hatched a conspiracy to oppose this Bill. Everyone saw this. They stand exposed now as to how, for the past several decades, they have been conspiring to do injustice to women. Congress will have to suffer for the sin it committed against women."

Meanwhile, Former Goa Governor and BJP leader P S Sreedharan Pillai condemned the Opposition for defeating the Women's Reservation Bill, labelling their lack of cooperation a "shameful" and "unpardonable" act that denied women their fundamental constitutional rights despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi's efforts.

Speaking to ANI, Pillai said, "Women are not getting proper consideration in the arena of our Parliamentary system. There is much effort for that. PM Narendra Modi is concerned and tried his best with the hope that the Opposition will also cooperate. But in the last minute, they defeated the move for justice for women. It was a shameful act done by them. Due to that, women were defeated with respect to the fundamental rights' guarantee to them. Our Constitution guarantees equal consideration everywhere. They had done an injustice. Nobody can justify that. The opposition is claiming that they are all united. But at what cost? To defeat the interests of women in our country. This is an unpardonable act. Nobody can justify this."

BJP MP Ravi Kishan also lashed out at the opposition, claiming the Congress, SP, and TMC have committed a "big sin" by snatching away women's rights and predicting that the electorate will punish these parties in every upcoming election for their actions.

Speaking to reporters, Kishan said, "The Congress, SP, TMC, and all the parties in the INDI alliance have committed such a big sin that the women of the country will never forgive them. They have snatched away women's rights. For this sin, they will now face punishment in every election."

On Friday, Opposition parties in the Lok Sabha voted against the Constitution Amendment Bill.

The Lok Sabha took up the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-first Amendment) Bill, the Delimitation Bill, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill together for passing.

In the division that took place on the Constitution Amendment Bill following the debate on the three bills, 298 members voted in favour and 230 against. With the Constitution Amendment Bill defeated, the government later said it did not want to pursue the two other linked bills.

The bills aimed to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha from 543 to 816, with 33 per cent reservation for women. The delimitation was to be carried out based on the 2011 census. The government said there will be a proportionate increase in seats for all states.

Opposition parties said that they are strongly in favour of women's reservation but were against the Delimitation Bill. They called upon the government to implement the women's reservation in the existing strength of the Lok Sabha.

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