Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, added a touch of levity to the debate on the Women’s Reservation and Delimitation Bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday, April 17.
At the start of his speech in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi recalled Union Minister Kiren Rijiju’s remarks about how his wife scolded him for not dedicating a poem to her.
Read also | Rahul Gandhi’s Lok Sabha speech in 5 points: ‘Magician’ jibe, more
Earlier in the day, Kiren Rijiju said in the Lok Sabha: “The Law Minister yesterday recited a poem dedicated to his wife. We got so much bashing – why can’t we do what the Law Minister did for his wife? I personally got quite a bashing yesterday.”
“PM Modi and I have no problems with wife”
Taking the opportunity to interrupt the debate on a lighter note, Rahul Gandhi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and himself do not have a “wife problem”.
Gandhi said, “Thank you for letting me speak on a very important subject. Women are the central force, the driving force in our national imagination, in our national perspective. All of us, everyone in this room, have been influenced, taught and learned a lot from the women in our lives – mothers, sisters, wives.”
Read also | As NDA falls short in numbers, PM Modi asks Oppn for help for women reservation
…As Rijiju ji said, of course, the Prime Minister and I do not have this problem with the wife,” Rahul Gandhi said with a smile on his face as other MPs laughed.
He further praised his sister Priyanka Gandhi for her speech on the women’s reservation and delimitation laws in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
“I watched my sister achieve something in five minutes that I have not been able to do in perhaps 20 years of our political career, which was to make Mr. Amit Shah ji laugh,” Rahul Gandhi said.
Read also | LS to view the Delimitation Act, Amendments to the Women’s Graduation Reservation Act
During a debate on Thursday, Priyanka Gandhi told Home Minister Amit Shah that if Chanakya were alive today, he would have been surprised by the BJP leader’s “political acumen”.
She accused the government of wanting to “fool” the people again and launch a “major attack on the country’s integrity”.
“On the one hand there is a lot of talk about women’s reservation and on the other hand the rights of OBCs are being taken away. A strong structure is being built for the next polls by reducing the influence of small states, breaking democracy into pieces,” claims Priyanka Gandhi.
The government and the opposition are debating three bills — the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill 2026; the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Act, 2026; and the Delimitation Bill introduced by the government in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty-First Amendment) Bill seeks to amend the Women’s Reservation Act, 2023 and expand the number of seats in the Lok Sabha from 543 to 850
Rahul Gandhi, who is the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said the opposition will not allow the three bills to be passed and said the government should implement the Nari Shakti Act, 2023 without delay.
“Giving reservation to women, which is easy and every member of the opposition will approve…bring that old law back right now, we’ll help you pass it with implementation in a second. That’s a women’s bill, this (Constitution (Thirty-first Amendment) bill) is something else. The truth needs to be told about what it is,” he said on Friday.
