Tharoor junks Rijiju’s claim that he agreed Congress is anti-women

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday debunked Union minister Kiren Rijiju’s reported claim that the opposition party leader had agreed that the Congress is “anti-women”, asserting that at no point did he imply any such thing and that his party has stood for women’s rights and reservation.

Reacting to Rijiju’s claims, Tharoor stressed that the Congress is totally in favour of women’s reservation and prepared to have it implemented right now — without linking it to delimitation.

In a post on X, the Congress leader said, “I am sorry, but with the greatest respect for Kiren Rijiju, at no point did I say or imply any such thing — and I have seven witnesses in the photograph who can confirm that!”

‘’That was what he meant, our Minister says. No, sir, that is NOT what I meant. ‘That Congress can be anti-women...he agreed in a way,’ he added. “I am sorry, but I did NOT agree in any way,” Tharoor said.

“The Congress has stood for women’s rights and women’s reservation under a strong woman president in Sonia Gandhi, initiated the Women’s Reservation Bill, passed it in the Rajya Sabha during our tenure and supported it in the Lok Sabha when it was brought by the Government of India in 2023,” he said.

“We are totally in favour of women’s reservation and are prepared to have it implemented right now — without linking it to delimitation,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP added.

Rijiju’s reported comments came while narrating details of the conversation he had with Tharoor on April 18, after the end of the three-day special sitting of Parliament during which the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 was defeated in the Lok Sabha.

Tharoor on April 18 had shared a snippet of his conversation with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rijiju after the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die, and said the BJP leader conceded that “no one could ever call me anti-women”.

Tharoor had said women are by far the better half of the species - ‘Humans 2.0’ - and deserve representation in Parliament and in every institution.

“Just don’t link their advancement to a mischievous and potentially dangerous Delimitation that could devastate our democracy,” he had said on X.

Sharing a picture of some opposition MPs standing with Rijiju in the Lok Sabha, Tharoor had said, “A little post-adjournment gathering of Opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha with our charming Parliamentary Affairs Minister.

“When Kiren Rijiju explained why he and his party were calling the Opposition ‘mahila virodhi’, it was pointed out to him that no one could ever call me anti-women! He conceded the point…”

While 298 members voted in support of the Bill, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the Bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.

The Bill proposed to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 from the current 543 to “operationalise” the women’s reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.

Seats were also to be increased in State and UT assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.

The three-day special sitting was convened from April 16 to 18 to secure Parliament’s approval for the Bill.

After the bill was defeated, the Congress had said the “nefarious attempt” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to link their “dangerous delimitation proposals” to women’s reservation had been decisively defeated in the Lok Sabha, calling it a win for democracy and the Constitution.