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Delimitation
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday said the opposition parties defeated the delimitation bill in the Parliament on Friday to defend the "idea of India." Addressing a poll rally at Ponneri here, he said the BJP-led government at the Centre brought a new bill on April 16, and said they were trying to pass the women's bill, which he said was passed in 2023. "In the so-called Women's Bill, delimitation was hidden. The idea was to reduce Tamil Nadu's representation in the Union of India... the delimitation move by BJP was to weaken the strength of southern states, small states, north eastern states," he alleged. "We defeated in Parliament, a bill in which delimitation was hidden; we defeated it to defend the idea of India." Rahul added that India that is Bharat, is a union of states, and every single state should have a voice, be free to express itself, and protect its tradition.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday accused the Centre of conspiring to change the federal structure of the country in the garb of women's reservation, asserting that the defeat of its bill in the Lok Sabha to amend the women's quota law was a victory for the Constitution as well as opposition unity. She also demanded that the government implement the Women's Reservation Act of 2023 on the current strength of the Lok Sabha. "What happened yesterday was a big win for democracy. The conspiracy to change the federal structure (of the country) was defeated. It was a victory for the Constitution, opposition unity, and the country," the Congress general secretary said at a press conference. "When Home Minister Amit Shah was speaking in the Lok Sabha on Friday, he said the Congress will not be able to sit on the treasury benches for years, which shows their mindset," Priyanka said. "The whole conspiracy was to stay in power. They thought that if delimitation is not done now,
Delimitation will turn out to be "political demonetisation", senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Friday while slamming the government for linking women's reservation with the expansion of Parliament. Participating in a debate in the Lok Sabha on the three bills introduced for amendments in the women's quota law and setting up a delimitation commission, Tharoor said linking women's reservation with delimitation is to hold the aspirations of Indian women hostage to "one of the most contentious and complex" administrative exercises in the country's history. "Today we stand at a threshold where there is near unanimous political consensus in favour of women's reservation. Every major party realises that the time for tokenism is over and the era of collective partnership must begin and yet I am finding myself deeply perturbed by the legislative exercise before us," he said. "The prime minister says he has brought 'nari shakti' the gift of justice but he has wrapped it in barbed
The Congress on Thursday said the true intent of the bills being brought by the government in the garb of implementing women's quota law is mischievous and they have to be rejected completely in their present shape and form. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the three bills are being taken up in Lok Sabha and the packaging and marketing is women's reservation but the fundamentals have to do with delimitation. "Many concerns have been raised from across the country regarding the delimitation proposals that privilege a few populous states where the BJP is strong now. The relative strength of a number of states in the Lok Sabha will actually decline," Ramesh said on X. The way delimitation has actually been done in Assam and Jammu and Kashmir shows how "diabolically the Modi-Shah duo work" he said. "The true intent of these Bills is mischievous, their content devious, and their damage enormous. They have to be rejected completely in their present .
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday burnt a copy of the delimitation bill and dubbed it a "black law" and alleged it seeks to make the Tamil people "refugees" in their own land. Stalin hoisted a black flag and burnt a copy of the bill on delimitation circulated by the union government and raised slogans condemning the move, hours before the Parliament was to sit for a special session. The CM burnt the copy of the bill at Namakkal in western Tamil Nadu where he is camping in connection with electioneering. "Poradavom, Velvom ondraga" (Let us struggle, win together) was among the slogans raised by Stalin and others clad in black. In a statement, Stalin said: "Let the flames of resistance spread across Tamil Nadu. Let the arrogance of the fascist BJP be brought down. Then, the fire of resistance against Hindi imposition that rose from Tamil Nadu scorched Delhi. It quietened only after Delhi was forced to yield." He was apparently referring to the anti-Hindi agitation in t