The Congress launched a scathing attack on the Modi government on Sunday over its delimitation proposal related to the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act, saying it will benefit larger and more populous states and is nothing more than a “weapon of mass distraction”.
The opposition party also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was “misleading” the people by claiming that the strength of southern states in the Lok Sabha would not decrease with the proposed changes as the gap in the number of seats between the more populous states and others would widen.
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X: “The Prime Minister is up to his usual tricks of misleading statements to deceive. He is saying that the South Indian states will not be hurt in any way if the strength of the Lok Sabha is increased by 50% and each state’s number of seats in the Lok Sabha is also increased by 50%.”
“It is a deception of the people in a country where the Prime Minister has unique experience,” he said.
For example, the difference between Uttar Pradesh and Kerala Lok Sabha seats is now 60 and Mr. Modi’s proposal will increase it to 90, he said.
Similarly, the gap between Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu will increase from 41 to at least 61, Mr. Ramesh said, adding that such examples can be multiplied.
“Mr. Modi is bulldozing a proposal that will work more in favor of larger and more populous states as their already large numbers continue to grow,” the Congress leader said.
It is not just South India, but states like Punjab and Haryana and those in the Northeast, which will also see a decline in their relative influence, he argued.
“The nation is facing a serious economic and foreign policy crisis. All that bothers the Prime Minister is pushing for an increase in the strength of the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas without meaningful consultation and broad public debate. It is nothing but a weapon of mass dispersal (WMD),” Mr. Ramesh said.
Framing the thing
Flagging Mr. Ramesh’s post, Congress MP Manish Tewari said that Jairam Ramesh is absolutely prescient and PM Modi’s framing is totally wrong.
“The framework has to be how much South India, West India, North East India and North West India will lose in terms of political weight compared to India’s Hindi-centred states in terms of the difference in the number of parliamentary seats between them and the Hindi-centred states,” Mr Tewari said.
The Chandigarh MP noted that states and union territories like Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi together have just 40 seats in the Lok Sabha, as opposed to 80 in Uttar Pradesh.
“This gap will only continue to widen” after the delineation, he said.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has questioned the basis of the proposed women’s reservation, saying a fresh census must be completed before the issue of reserving seats for women in Parliament and state assemblies can be taken up.
Parliament sitting during election campaign is malicious: Chidambaram
Congress MP P Chidambaram said the proposal to convene Parliament from April 16 to 18 was “mischievous” and should be opposed.
He pointed out that elections in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are scheduled later in April and 39 MPs from Tamil Nadu and 28 MPs from West Bengal are on the opposition benches in the Lok Sabha.
They will be fully engaged in their constituencies from April 16 to 18, Mr. Chidambaram said on X.
If critical constitutional amendment bills are brought up for discussion and voting on these dates, how will these 67 members of the Lok Sabha participate and vote, he asked.
“I suspect the intention is to exclude these MPs,” he claimed.
“As the draft laws that the government proposes to table in Parliament on April 16-18 have not been published, I cannot comment on the substance of the laws. But the Honorable Prime Minister’s speech yesterday gives an indication of what the laws are likely to contain,” he said.
“Reserve one-third of the current Lok Sabha seats for women”
“The proposal to increase the Lok Sabha strength from 548 (current strength 543) to 816 is retrograde and will widen the gap between the more populous states and the southern states that have stabilized their population,” Mr. Chidambaram said.
Reservation of one-third seats for women in the Lok Sabha can be achieved by reserving one-third of the current seat strength, he said.
The 816-member Lok Sabha will become a large and unwieldy assembly where each member will have fewer opportunities and less time to speak, he argued.
What can an MP say when he gets an opportunity to speak once in three months and not for more than a few minutes, Mr. Chidambaram said.
“What’s a burst rush?”
He further asked what is the rush to convene Parliament on April 16 and why Parliament cannot be convened on April 29.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said the issue was never whether the number of Lok Sabha seats in the southern states was increasing, but how they were increasing and who was benefiting disproportionately.
“Under the proposed expansion, while every state may see an increase, the rate and magnitude of the increase clearly favors BJP-dominated states. Uttar Pradesh is expected to increase from 80 to 120 seats (+40), Maharashtra from 48 to 72 (+24), Bihar from 40 to 60 (+20), Madhya Pradesh (+20), Madhya Pradesh (+20), Madhya Pradesh (+143) from 25 to 37-38 (+12-13) and Gujarat from 26 to 39 (+13).
“In contrast, southern states see smaller gains. Karnataka rises from 28 to 42 (+14), Tamil Nadu from 39 to 58-59 (+20), Andhra Pradesh from 25 to 37-38 (+12-13), Telangana from 17 to 25-26 (+8-20),” Mr.+ 01 and Kerala Siddaramaiah said.
“Telling the Numbers”
“The numbers are telling. The five southern states together will get barely 63-66 more seats, while these seven BJP-dominated states alone will get about 128-131 seats – almost double,” he said.
Such a structural change cannot be enforced without consultation or public debate, Mr. Siddaramaiah added.
The opposition leaders’ comments came a day after Prime Minister Modi said the budget session of Parliament had been extended by three days so that a law passed in 2023 that provides 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies could be implemented from 2029.
The session will reconvene on April 16 after a short break to pass bills to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha from 543 to 816 so that the Women’s Reservation Act can be introduced at the earliest.
Addressing an NDA election rally in Kerala on Saturday, Mr Modi said the government would ensure a legal stamp during the April 16-18 Parliament session that no state, be it Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Goa or Telangana, would see a reduction in Lok Sabha seats.
