Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], April 26 : BJD MP Sulata Deo on Sunday said that women are "most unsafe" in Odisha under the Bharatiya Janata Party-led (BJP) double-engine government, highlighting incidents of crimes against women across districts.
Speaking to ANI, Deo said, "Today, when there is a 'double engine' government in Odisha, women are the most unsafe. Look at small girls, tribal girls, Dalits, minors, and especially women, who are being assaulted. Look at any district. Recently, look at what happened to a six-year-old girl in Brahmagiri. The MLA there is a woman. Where is she? That woman MLA is doing politics for votes in West Bengal. This is their attitude towards women. Mentally, you all are anti-women," Deo said.
She also raised concerns over delimitation and women's representation, alleging a reduction in Odisha's share.
"The day we found out you were bringing delimitation and census into this, we saw that Odisha's share, its proportion, is decreasing. Our proportion was 3.9%, and because of this, from 543 seats, we had 21. But you have reduced our proportion to 3.4%. Based on what?" Deo said.
Referring to the women's reservation in legislative bodies, she added, "We have already passed the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam. BJP celebrated and tweeted about the same. Then why didn't they implement the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam at that time? Our demand was that out of 543 seats, you should give 33%, which is 180 seats. But you are not giving it. This shows your anti-women mindset."
On April 17, Opposition parties in the Lok Sabha voted against the Constitution Amendment Bill.
During the three-day Special Session from April 16 to April 18, multiple leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, discussed the bill. Multiple Opposition leaders, including Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, and Congress leader KC Venugopal, also participated in the discussion.
The Constitution 131st Amendment Bill to implement women's reservation failed to pass in the Lok Sabha as the INDIA bloc refused to vote in favour of the delimitation process.
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.
With the Constitution Amendment Bill defeated, the government later said it did not want to pursue the two other linked bills since they were interrelated.