SHILLONG : BJP national secretary in-charge of Meghalaya, Anil Antony, on Monday accused the Congress-led INDIA bloc of sabotaging key legislative efforts during the recent special session of Parliament, including a crucial bill aimed at ensuring greater political representation for women.
Addressing the media, Antony said the Union government had introduced three important bills during the April 16–18 session, with a focus on promoting equality and fairness in the democratic process. He emphasised that one of the key proposals was the 131st Constitution Amendment Bill, which sought to delink women’s reservation from the delimitation process to enable earlier implementation.
According to Antony, despite the intent to empower women—who constitute more than half of the country’s population—the Opposition parties, including Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress and DMK, disrupted proceedings and prevented the bill from being passed. He alleged that the legislation, introduced with the aim of strengthening women’s participation in governance, ultimately failed due to their actions.
Antony also referred to what he described as a historical pattern of opposition from the Congress party. He claimed that between 1999 and 2003, during the tenure of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, similar attempts to pass the women’s reservation bill were made multiple times but did not succeed.
Highlighting developments in recent years, Antony noted that the 2023 law linking women’s reservation to census and delimitation processes could delay implementation until 2034. He said the latest effort by the NDA government was intended to remove this linkage and ensure that the reservation could be implemented as early as 2029.
He further stated that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had assured that any future delimitation exercise would not result in a reduction of seats for any state. Instead, he said, there would be a balanced increase in representation across the country.
In this context, Antony pointed out that Meghalaya, which currently has two Lok Sabha seats, could see an increase to three seats under the proposed changes, with at least one seat reserved for a woman, thereby improving representation from the state.
Antony also stressed the need for delimitation, noting that current parliamentary boundaries are still based on the 1971 census, when India’s population was significantly lower. He argued that updating representation is essential to reflect the country’s current demographic realities.
Accusing the Opposition of resisting women’s empowerment, Antony alleged that parties within the INDIA bloc fear losing political ground if women are given greater representation. He said the BJP would continue to oppose what he termed as “anti-women forces” and urged voters to respond through the democratic process.
He concluded by strongly condemning the conduct of the Opposition during the Parliament session, calling it undemocratic and detrimental to the advancement of women’s rights in the country.