Sonia Gandhi flags delimitation as ‘real threat’, terms it an ‘assault on Constitution’

Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Monday (April 13) asserted that the real issue with the government's move to bring bills in a special sitting of Parliament this week is delimitation, not women's reservation, and claimed that the reported delimitation proposal is "extremely dangerous" as well as an "assault on the Constitution itself".

She stressed that any delimitation involving an increase in the strength of the Lok Sabha must be politically, and not just arithmetically, equitable.

In an article published in The Hindu, she also alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's real intention now is to further "delay and derail" the caste census.

‘Extraordinary hurry’

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is making appeals to opposition parties to support bills that the government wants to bulldoze through Parliament in a special session when the election campaign in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal will be at its peak, she said.

"There can be only one reason for the extraordinary hurry, which is to derive political advantage and place the Opposition on the defensive," she alleged.

Also Read: Delimitation row: CPI(M) MP John Brittas flags skewed gains for northern states

The prime minister is, as usual, being economical with the truth, Sonia Gandhi claimed. Noting that Parliament passed the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 unanimously in September 2023 during a special session, she said the law introduced Article 334-A in the Constitution which mandated one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas, scheduled to come into effect after the completion of the next Census and the Census-based delimitation process.

'PM Modi’s U-turn'

"The Opposition had not asked for this condition. In fact, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, had forcefully demanded that the reservation provision be implemented from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections itself. For reasons best known to itself, the government did not agree," she pointed out in her article.

"Now, we are given to understand that Article 334-A will be amended to make women's reservation applicable from 2029 itself. Why did it take the Prime Minister 30 months to make his U-turn? And why can he not wait a few weeks to convene the special session?" she said.

"The last decadal Census was due in 2021. The Modi government kept postponing it. One consequence of this has been that over 10 crore people have been deprived of their legal entitlements under the National Food Security Act, 2013 that provides the basis for the Pradhar Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yoiana," she said.

‘Real intention is to derail caste census’

She further noted that Census operations have begun only after an inexplicable delay of five years.

"It is clear, therefore, that the propaganda that a caste census will delay the publication of the Census 2027 is just not true. In fact, the Prime Minister's real intention now is to further delay and derail the caste census," she alleged.

Also Read: Centre’s push for women’s quota tied to delimitation puts Opposition in a bind

"Any delimitation must be preceded by a Census exercise as in the past,” asserted Sonia Gandhi.

‘Smaller states must not be relatively disadvantaged’

States that have been pioneers in family planning, and smaller states must not be placed at an absolute or relative disadvantage, she argued.

"A proportionate increase may, in fact, result in the loss of relative influence because the differences in absolute numbers get magnified," Gandhi opined.

Also Read: Kharge flags ‘grave consequences’ in Government’s proposed delimitation exercise

Pointing out that The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 provides for reservation within reservation, she said this means that the one-third of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes respectively will also be reserved for women.

“The monsoon session of Parliament will begin in mid-July. The heavens will not fall if the government were to call an all-party meeting after April 29, to discuss its proposals with the Opposition, allowing time for a public debate and then have the Constitution Amendment Bills considered in the monsoon session," she said.

‘Anti-democratic process’

"The process is deeply flawed and anti-democratic. Reservation for women is not the issue here. That has already been settled. The real issue is delimitation which, based on the information unofficially available, is extremely dangerous and an assault on the Constitution itself," Gandhi said.

The Budget Session of Parliament has been extended, and a special three-day sitting of the House has been convened from April 16 to 18, during which amendments to the “Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam”, more commonly known as the Women Reservation Act, will be brought for its implementation in 2029.

Also Read: TN delimitation row: Stalin warns Modi against turning ‘calm South into storm'

While elections in Puducherry, Assam and Kerala were held on April 9, polls in West Bengal would be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29. In Tamil Nadu, polls will be held in a single phase on April 23.

(With agency inputs)