Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], April 19 : West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Sunday hit back at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the reservation of women legislators, claiming that the party has championed higher political representation for women.
PM Modi accused the Opposition of blocking the Women's Reservation Bill, saying that they "crushed" their dreams despite the government's sincere efforts.
In an X post, Mamata Banerjee clarified that the TMC did not oppose the women's reservation, but the Delimitation Bill linked to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. She accused PM Modi of misleading the nation.
She termed PM Modi's address to the nation a "cowardly, hypocritical and fork-tongued" speech.
The TMC supremo wrote, "It is deeply unfortunate that the Prime Minister chose to mislead the nation rather than address it honestly. Let me put this on record. Trinamool Congress has always championed higher political representation for women. We have the highest proportion of female elected representatives in both Parliament and the State Legislature. In the Lok Sabha, 37.9 per cent of our elected members are women. In the Rajya Sabha, we have nominated 46 per cent women members. The question of opposing Women's Reservation does not arise and never has."
She called the delimitation to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha an "assault on federal democracy", claiming that the BJP wanted greater representation of the states ruled by the party through gerrymandering.
"What we are fundamentally opposed to is the Delimitation exercise that the Modi Government was plotting to push through by using women as a shield for its vested political agenda. What we are fundamentally opposed to is the altering of Babasaheb Ambedkar's Constitution, the division of this nation and the usurpation of power through gerrymandering, by redrawing political contours to hand greater representation to BJP-ruled states at the expense of others. This is an assault on federal democracy. And we will not watch it happen in silence," she wrote.
She asked why the government waited three years to bring amendments to the Nari Shakti Adhiniyam, 2023, and why it coupled women's reservation with delimitation.
"If this government was genuinely serious about this noble cause, why did it wait nearly three years after the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill on September 28, 2023? Why rush it through when several states are in an election? And why couple it with delimitation? Trinamool Congress has stood for women for decades. We will continue to. But we will not be lectured on a subject that the ruling dispensation neither understands nor respects," CM Mamata Banerjee said.
Further, she asked PM Modi to address the nation from the floor of the Parliament, where the MPs can seek accountability.
"And Mr Prime Minister, the next time you address the nation, have the courage to do so from the Floor of Parliament, where you are subject to scrutiny, challenge and accountability. What you did yesterday was cowardly, hypocritical and fork-tongued. You can feel power slipping through your fingers. And you are prepared to go to any extent to hold on for just a little while longer. That is all this was," the X post read.
Opposition parties in the Lok Sabha voted against the Constitution Amendment Bill on Friday. The Lok Sabha took up the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-first Amendment) Bill, the Delimitation Bill, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill together for passing. In the division that took place on the Constitution Amendment Bill following the debate on the three bills, 298 members voted in favour and 230 against.
PM Modi pointed out that the defeat of this bill is a direct blow to the self-respect of women, an insult that the female electorate will permanently engrave in their memories. "Women may forget everything else, but they never forget an insult to their pride," PM Modi said in his address to the nation on Saturday.
PM Modi said "the sin committed by the opposition" will bring them punishment from the people.
Earlier, in an election rally in West Bengal, PM Modi accused the TMC of betraying women by opposing the representation of women in politics.