Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], April 23 : Trinamool Congress (TMC) vice president Jay Prakash Majumdar on Thursday launched a sharp attack on the Narendra Modi-led government in Centre over the Constitution Amendment Bill that sought to increase Lok Sabha seats and operationalise women's reservation law, alleging that it was a "tactical step" ahead of future elections.
Speaking to ANI, Majumdar said, "Modi knows in 2029 he'll be defeated by the people of India. So he is taking a tactical step, the Women's Bill, to increase the number of women parliamentarians, and you have to see that women's empowerment is not the sole idea of this bill. Women's empowerment, we have seen Mamata Banerjee has done in Bengal. She has reserved 50 per cent of the seats in local government for women. No BJP government has shown that courage."
He further said that BJP-ruled states had not taken similar steps for women's empowerment.
"So many states are ruled by the BJP, but none of them has shown that courage to bring a bill. Now they are bringing it, after 12 years of the reign of Modi, that 33 per cent women's reservation. We'll see what they will do. We know that this is a mischievous ploy of the BJP to go ahead. We are not against women. We have raised our voice in Parliament for the last 20 years," he said.
Majumdar also cited West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's initiatives, saying, "Mamata Banerjee has pushed for one-third reservation for women. To that end, Mamata Banerjee has already shown the path by reserving 50 per cent, not 33 per cent, 50 per cent for women in local government."
On April 17, Opposition parties in the Lok Sabha voted against the Constitution Amendment Bill.
The BJP-led government failed to secure the required two-thirds majority to pass the Constitution Amendment Bill. In the Lok Sabha voting, 298 members supported the bill while 230 opposed it.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla confirmed that the bill did not pass. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the Centre would not proceed with the remaining interrelated legislations.
During the three-day Special Session from April 16 to April 18, multiple leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, discussed the bill. Multiple Opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, and Congress leader KC Venugopal, also participated in the discussion.
With the Constitution Amendment Bill defeated, the government later said it did not want to pursue the two other linked bills since they were interrelated.
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