By Vishwas Dabar
Rahul Gandhi’s assertions, and the Congress demand for reservation on a religious basis along with other quota demands from the INDIA bloc during the discussion on the Women’s Reservation Bill, is a continuation of their tactics to prevent the Bill from being implemented before the election of 2029. It is a clear indication of the mindset of the INDIA bloc parties regarding the rights of the women of India. The way they were asking for a “quota within a quota” is because there is no provision for seats other than those reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies until now; and the same shall apply to the women’s seats which will increase in the delimitation process. This was very clearly explained by the Prime Minister and the Home Minister: that the percentage representation of Southern States will not decrease, and there will be a very small increase in their representation. In our parliamentary system, an assurance given by the Prime Minister on the floor of the House is binding and has always been honoured by every government. Their wrong assertions regarding the reduction of the percentage representation of Southern States have been totally unfounded, as the delimitation exercise is not decreasing the representation of Southern States.
As clearly explained in the addresses of the Prime Minister and Home Minister in the Lok Sabha, the number of seats for the five Southern States is projected to rise from the existing 129 to 195. In a proposed House of 816 members, the specific representation will increase as follows: Tamil Nadu: Seats increase from 39 to 59, share increases from (7.18% to 7.23%). Karnataka: Seats increase from 28 to 42, share remains stable at approximately (5.14%). Andhra Pradesh: Seats increase from 25 to 38, share increases from (4.60% to 4.65%). Telangana: Seats increase from 17 to 26, share increases from (3.13% to 3.18%). Kerala: Seats increase from 20 to 30, share increases from (3.68% to 3.76%). The collective representational share increases from 23.76% to 23.90%. But for no reason, they were just asking why this was not in the written Bill. As per parliamentary tradition, anything which is committed by the Prime Minister or the Home Minister becomes part of the Bill on which discussion is going on in Parliament. The Home Minister even offered to give it in writing—to make the increase of seats in every State and Union Territory part of the Bill within one hour.
In 1971, India’s population was 54.82 crore, the last census taken as basis for delimitation. Now it is approaching 150 crore today. This means current Members of Parliament (MPs) are representing nearly more than 2.5 times the population compared to when the seats were last effectively adjusted. Consequently, protests by the INDIA bloc against the upcoming delimitation process are logically inconsistent, as the current seat distribution fails to reflect the massive demographic shift and the need for equal democratic representation. Their opposition to delimitation is logically flawed, absurd and has no valid reason of logic. But as the whole INDIA bloc was adamant about stopping the Bill by raising unreasonable demands, they showed no interest in empowering the Indian women population. They have always tried to stop the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament, and they have been doing this for the last four decades.
There are plenty of examples cited by Nishikant Dubey, a Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament from Jharkhand, regarding the Congress party’s opposition to Other Backward Classes reservations. The Congress stand against reservation for OBCs is documented in history. Constitutional acceptance for the OBC commission was also given approval under the BJP government, whereas Congress delayed it for decades. Suddenly, Congress has changed its stand now, only to stop the bill. Now, they want to divide the nation on the basis of North, South, and caste only to create confusion for ulterior motives.
I am reminded of a timeless story from the legendary court of Emperor Akbar, a tale my grandfather used to tell me about the folly of making impossible demands. The story begins with the King of Turkmenistan, who was deeply envious of Akbar’s growing fame. Seeking to humiliate the Emperor, he sent a royal messenger to Delhi with a challenge: “Great Emperor, my King requests a tribute of 180 horses. However, there is one condition: these horses must be neither male nor female, nor can they be sterile.” The nobles whispered in confusion, but Birbal stepped forward and calmly asked for 60 days to arrange them. On the 60th day, Birbal entered the court covered in the dust and grime of a long journey. He announced the horses were ready but added a condition: “The horses are prepared. However, your King must send a messenger to lead them home who is neither a man, nor a woman, nor a person who is sterile.” The messenger shouted in frustration, “That is impossible! How can such a person exist?” Birbal smiled gently and replied, “My friend, if such a person cannot exist, then how such horses can exist?” Realising he had been outwitted by his own logic, the messenger apologised for his King’s foolish demand. Just as that messenger tried to trap Akbar with a riddle that defied logic, we see similar ‘illogical demands’ in our Parliament today. When people demand provisions that do not exist in our Constitution—simply to stall a noble cause like the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam—they only want to ensure the gates of progress for women never to be opened. The demands of the INDIA bloc are totally unreasonable and cannot be met, as they go against the basic principles and purpose of the Women’s Reservation Bill. The INDIA bloc will soon realise the blunder they have made by raising demands for quotas on religious and caste basis. They must accept the Bill presented in parliament. I hope better sense will prevail among the leaders of the INDIA bloc— Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, and their associates. The only purpose of this Bill is to give representation rights to 50% of our population. This will open a new door for the women of our country—the largest population of its kind in the world—to represent their feelings and ideas.
