NEW DELHI, APR 18 : Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday accused the Centre of conspiring to alter India’s federal structure under the guise of women’s reservation, declaring the Lok Sabha’s defeat of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill a “big win for democracy, the Constitution, and opposition unity.”
Speaking at a press conference, Priyanka said, “What happened yesterday was a big win for democracy. The conspiracy to change the federal structure was defeated. It was a victory for the Constitution, opposition unity, and the country.” She demanded immediate implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act of 2023 on the current Lok Sabha strength of 543 seats.
She criticized Home Minister Amit Shah’s remark that Congress wouldn’t sit on treasury benches for years, calling it revealing of the government’s power-hungry mindset. “The whole conspiracy was to stay in power. They thought if delimitation isn’t done now, it won’t happen before 2029,” she alleged, adding that the government used women’s reservation as a smokescreen for its own delimitation agenda.
“They thought if the bill passes, fine. If it fails, they’d project opposition as anti-women and position themselves as messiahs,” Priyanka said, citing Hathras and cases involving Olympic medallists as examples of the government’s failure on women’s safety. “It’s not easy to become the messiah of women.”
The bill, which sought 33% women’s reservation from 2029 and expansion of Lok Sabha seats to 816 based on 2011 Census delimitation, was defeated with 298 votes in favor and 230 against, short of the 352 needed for a two-thirds majority. The Congress called it a decisive defeat of Modi and Shah’s “nefarious attempt” to link delimitation with women’s reservation, hailing it as a triumph for democracy.
