Back women’s bill or face backlash: PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Thursday, asserted the need to implement women’s reservation in legislative bodies, including the Lok Sabha, in 2029 and warned that the women of the country will not forgive those who oppose this initiative.

Intervening in the debate in Lok Sabha on the three bills introduced for amendment of the women’s quota law and to set up a delimitation commission, Modi said if any political party opposes the women’s quota law, it is quite natural that he (Modi) would be politically benefited.

“Here, some people think that there is political self-interest in Modi’s move. If you oppose it, it’s natural that I will gain political benefit, but if you walk along, no one will gain any political advantage. We don’t want credit,” he said.

Allaying fears of some states over the delimitation exercise, particularly those from the southern and eastern regions, the prime minister said no state will be discriminated against under the move.

“I want to say from this House today with a great sense of responsibility that whether it is the south, the north, the east, the west, small states or big states, this decision-making process will not discriminate against any state or do injustice to anyone,” he said.

Modi also made it clear that the number of Lok Sabha seats in any state will not decrease as a result of the delimitation exercise.

“There will be no change in that proportion (of Lok Sabha seats) either, and the increase will also be in the same proportion,” he said.

Modi also said the ruling dispensation does not want credit for implementing the women’s reservation law in 2029 and offered to give credit to the opposition. He said the women of this country have not forgiven those who had opposed giving this right to women in the past; they have faced the consequences.

Modi said that when Parliament was discussing the women’s reservation legislation in 2023, people were saying to “hurry up”, which, however, couldn’t happen in 2024. “Now in 2029, we have time. If we don’t do it even in 2029, we can imagine what the situation will be like. The time demands that we should not delay any further now,” he said.