New Delhi, Apr 16: BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj on Thursday accused the opposition leaders of attempting to divide the country into north and south for political gains ahead of the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, saying that such efforts would fail.
Elections in Tamil Nadu are due on April 23, and the results will be announced on May 4.
“There are elections in Tamil Nadu and the leaders of that state, for their political interests, are making efforts to divide the country into north and south. But these efforts will be unsuccessful,” Swaraj said.
Participating in a debate in the Lok Sabha on three bills introduced for amendments to the women’s quota law and setting up a delimitation commission, Swaraj said the women’s reservation law is the ultimate destination while the delimitation process is the road to achieve it.
Delimitation is not a BJP conspiracy but a mandatory constitutional provision needed to implement the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, the New Delhi MP said.
“A confusion has been created on delimitation. I want to make it clear that delimitation is not a conspiracy of the BJP but a constitutional mechanism. The same constitution which Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar made. There is a provision in the Constitution where delimitation is mandatory.
“Implementing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is a destination and delimitation is just a road. Please don’t confuse between the two. It is high time that we complete the journey toward that destination,” Swaraj said.
Countering Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi’s charge that delimitation is a power-grabbing move, the BJP MP said it is about achieving “power balance”.
“The leader of the opposition is saying that it is a power grabbing move. I want to remind him that this is not a subject of power grabbing but it is a topic of power balance,” Swaraj said, as she urged all the parties to rise above politics and back the bills.
The debate followed after the Centre introduced the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to mandate 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state/UT Assemblies in the Lower House after a division of votes.
Two ordinary bills – the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill to implement the proposed amended women’s quota in the Union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir – were also introduced in the House on Thursday.
