Madurai (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 13 : Congress MP Manickam Tagore on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "misleading the nation" since the implementation of the Women's Reservation Act, 2023, is the only thing that remains. He said that the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam had already been cleared in Parliament in 2023.
Speaking to ANI, he claimed that the Prime Minister intended to deny reservations to women and also to "stop OBC women from entering the Parliament".
"Prime Minister is misleading the nation. In 2023 December, the same Nari Shakti bill was passed before the Parliament elections. Therefore, it is again a misleading attempt by the Prime Minister. Already, the Women's Reservation Act is in place. And it has been passed by both houses, and the President of India has approved it. Therefore, it is lying there, and the implementation is only waiting. Therefore, the Prime Minister is misguiding the nation again. He wants to deny the process of reservation for women as well as including the OBC women into this reservation category," Tagore said.
"What was promised on the floor of the House? It was promised that after the Act is passed, there will be a census, there will be delimitation, and there will be women's reservation. Now the census is in place. Next year, the caste census will also be taken. OBCs will be counted, and then delimitation will start," he added.
Tagore alleged that the Prime Minister wants to stop the women's representation from the OBC communities in Parliament.
"With delimitation, there will be more than 150 seats reserved for the women of OBC community women. He wants to stop that 150 MPs, OBC community MPs, from entering Parliament. He is only bringing an amendment to stop OBC women from entering Parliament," he added.
Reacting to an opinion piece by Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Tagore echoed concerns over the timing and intent of the proposed changes.
He said, "The women's reservation is already passed. In 2023, three years old bill this is. Delimitation has been mixed with chocolate things, and they wanted to deny the right of - they wanted to increase only 66 seats from South India and 200 seats from North India. Therefore, automatically, 200 is bigger, or 66 is bigger; the whole world knows it."
Accusing the Centre of masking its intentions, he added, "Modi wants to sugar coat it and present to the nation as if he is doing a marvelous thing but he is denying the right of the OBCs, he is denying South India, Western India, Northeast India their right to have a voice in Parliament."
The remarks come after Prime Minister Modi wrote to floor leaders of all parties on Friday, urging support for implementing the Women's Reservation Bill and calling it a "historic moment" beyond party lines. He emphasised that the 2029 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections should be conducted with women's reservation in place.
The Parliament is set to meet for a three-day special session from April 16, with a focus on the Amendment Bill to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023. The Government has planned two major amendments. Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam tied women's reservation to the new census and delimitation. Due to census delays, the plan is to proceed with the 2011 census data.
The Lok Sabha seats may increase from 543 to 816 post-amendment. A separate Delimitation Bill will be introduced. Both bills need to be passed as Constitutional amendments for women's reservation. Keeping up with the status quo, there is no provision for OBC reservation, and SC/ST reservation will continue.
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