Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: A triumphant opposition hailed the fall of the constitutional amendment bill as a defeat for delimitation and not women’s reservation.After the opposition prevailed in voting, Congress’ Rahul Gandhi spoke with TMC’s Abhishek Banerjee and thanked him for the support.There was concern that only a few of the 28 TMC MPs may turn up in Parliament because of poll campaign in Bengal. But TMC sent 21 MPs after repeated requests from INDIA bloc members who impressed upon Mamata Banerjee that presence in debate and voting was important to thwart the Modi govt’s plan. Sources said Banerjee told Rahul, “The tide is turning against BJP”.SP’s Akhilesh Yadav called it a “defeat of BJP’s malice”. RSP’s N K Premachandran said the bill’s failure to pass shows that BJP must consult with opposition on important issues concerning the nation. “This defeat is not of women’s quota but of delimitation by the backdoor,” he said.Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused PM Modi of maliciously linking women’s quota to delimitation based on the 2011 census. “But his hollow attempt to pose as the messiah of women has failed today,” she said. She added that if the three bills had passed in Parliament, democracy in India would not have survived.CPI MP Sandosh Kumar said the fall of govt legislation shows there is a strong opposition to any attempt to change the balance of representation. He said the women of the country must see through the BJP’s approach of delaying women’s quota by linking it to the census and delimitation.DMK chief M K Stalin, who led the protests in Tamil Nadu, said his party’s concern was about delimitation, “which requires careful thought to ensure it is fair, especially for southern states”. He said govt should have delinked women’s quota from delimitation.
