Tiruppur (Tamil Nadu) [India], April 18 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Saturday strongly criticised AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, asking him to speak to his "owners", referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, to implement the Women Reservation Act, 2023 which provides for the reservation of one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies
The remarks come a day after the BJP-led government failed to secure the required two-thirds majority to pass the amendment bill. In the Lok Sabha voting, 298 members supported the bill while 230 opposed it.
Adressing an election rally in Tirrupur, Stalin urged EPS to show the "spine" to press the Centre to implement the long-pending 33% reservation for women in legislatures.
"Do you know what the AIADMK slaves said? "The Union government will do good for Tamil Nadu; Amit Shah has said so. A party like AIADMK under Palaniswami, which acts against its own state and people, is shameless something the world has never seen. They betray the very home that feeds them.
Should Tamil Nadu fall again into the hands of such slaves? If it does, will Tamil Nadu remain Tamil Nadu? Certainly not. We must prevent it. We must protect Tamil Nadu from both slave-like AIADMK and communal BJP. That is why I have come seeking support for the Secular Progressive Alliance," Stalin said.
He claimed that the DMK has already introduced a private member's bill in Parliament seeking to ensure women's reservation.
In Mettupalayam, CM Stalin once again reiterated that the fight is between the state government and the Centre, which he termed "Tamil Nadu vs Delhi".
"In this, only Tamil Nadu should win. If DMK is in power, what we'll do has been shown in Parliament yesterday. With only 5 days for elections, they thought what can we do? Elections are all around us. The rights for Tamil Nadu are first. We entered the field and succeeded," he said.
Earlier, Stalin alleged that the failure of the Constitutional Amendment Bill forced clarity on "who stands with Tamil Nadu's interests," and criticised Palaniswami and his party AIADMK, accusing them of acting in line with directions from Delhi.
Describing it as only a "half-victory," Stalin urged the Union government to introduce a constitutional amendment to postpone constituency delimitation for another 25 years, until 2051.
Stalin expressed confidence of electoral success for his party and its allies in state polls, stating that the BJP and its regional partners in Tamil Nadu would face a strong defeat in the upcoming state elections on April 23.
"We will give a massive, unforgettable defeat to the BJP, which tried to make the people of Tamil Nadu refugees in their own country, and to their subservient slaves, the AIADMK, in the 2026 assembly elections. We will win together," he said.
Meanwhile adressing a poll rally in Coimbatore today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, particularly targeted the DMK, stating that it made a 'U-turn over the Women's reservation after having supported the passage of the bill in 2023, accusing the ruling Tamil Nadu party of prioritising politics over women's welfare.
PM Modi highlighted that he appealed to all the political parties during the special sitting of Parliament to support the legislative process, that they can "take the credit" as he only "wanted sisters from ordinary families to come to the Parliament and Assemblies in greater numbers."
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