Image: ANI, PTI
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sunday stepped up its attack on the Modi government over its delimitation proposal to implement the women’s reservation law, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi is bulldozing a proposal that will will work more to the benefit of larger and populous states since their already large numbers will get further magnified”.In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh said,” The PM is upto his usual tricks of making misleading statements that are meant to deceive.”Citing the PM’s remarks, the Congress leader said, ” he (PM) says South Indian states will not be hurt in any way if the strength of the Lok Sabha is increased by 50% and the number of seats of each state in the Lok Sabha is also increased by 50%. This is hoodwinking the people of the country in which the PM has unique expertise.””For example, the difference between UP’s and Kerala’s seats in Lok Sabha is now 60. Mr. Modi’s proposal will increase it to 90. Similiarly the difference between UP and Tamil Nadu will increase from 41 to at least 61. Such examples can be multiplied,” Ramesh added.He alleged that “Modi is bulldozing a proposal that will work more to the benefit of larger and populous states since their already large numbers will get further magnified”. Ramesh further stated that it is not just South India but states like Punjab and Haryana and those in the North East that will also see their relative influence decline.He concluded his post saying, “The nation is facing a serious economic and foreign policy crisis. All that the PM is bothered about is pushing through an increase in the strength of the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas without meaningful consultations and widespread public debate. This is nothing but a Weapon of Mass Distraction (WMD).”Sharing his post with a quote, Congress leader Manish Tewari said, “The framing by PM Modi is absolutely erroneous. The framing must be how much will southern, western, north-eastern and north- western India lose in terms of political heft as compared to the Hindi heartland states of India in terms of the gap in the number of Parliamentary seats,” Tewari said.He claimed that northwest- Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and even Delhi will lose as they are already marginalised in the larger federal scheme. “Together they today have just 40 seats in Parliament.UP alone has 80 and this gap will only further increase,” Tewari highlighted.Noting that even though whatever the PMO and BJP is proposing is yet unclear, Tewari said that “it will further skew the federal balance to the detriment of the non Hindi heartland states”.Senior leader P Chidambaram also took to X to say that “the proposal to convene Parliament on April 16-18 is mischievous and must be opposed.”“Polling in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are scheduled on April 23 (and April 29 in WB). 39 MPs of TN and 28 MPs of WB are in the opposition benches in the Lok Sabha. They will be fully engaged in their constituencies during April 16-18. If critical Constitution amendment bills are brought to discussion and to vote on those dates, how will these 67 MPs in the Lok Sabha participate and vote? I suspect that the design is to exclude these MPs,” Chidambaram alleged.The former union minister who held charge of finance and home affairs during the UPA regime said, “since the drafts of the Bills that the government proposes to introduce in Parliament on April 16-18 have not been revealed, I cannot comment on the substance of the bills. But the Prime Minister’s speech yesterday gives a hint on what the Bills are likely to contain.”He said that the proposal to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha from 548 (current strength 543) to 816 is retrograde and will widen the difference between the more populous states and the Southern states that have stabilised their population.Chidambaram suggested that reservation of one-third of the seats for women in the Lok Sabha can be achieved by reserving one-third of the current strength of seats. “A Lok Sabha with 816 members will become a large and unwieldy gathering with each member having fewer occasions and less time to speak. What can an MP say when he/she has an opportunity to speak once in three months and for no more than a few minutes?,” he asked.
