DEHRADUN, Apr 19: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday launched a scathing attack on the Congress and its allies, accusing them of intentionally stalling a bill to amend the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, or women’s quota law, to prioritise “party interests over national progress”.
The remarks followed an exchange between the BJP and the opposition parties over 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, which failed to secure the required two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha on Friday.
Addressing the media, Dhami said the Congress, along with the Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress and the DMK, tried to mislead the public with “baseless arguments” to block a “revolutionary decision” for half the country’s population.
“While the BJP is committed to balanced representation, the negative politics of the opposition blocked a historic opportunity. Postponing the constitutional rights of half the population is equivalent to injustice,” Dhami said.
He alleged that these parties, driven by a legacy of “stall and mislead” tactics, celebrated the bill’s defeat instead of supporting a move toward a ‘Viksit Bharat’.
The chief minister also claimed that the bill failed to achieve consensus in the House because the opposition parties shifted the focus to “irrelevant” issues.
Criticising the Samajwadi Party for demanding religion-based quotas within the bill, Dhami said the Constitution does not provide for reservations based on religion and termed the demand a “diversionary tactic”.
He said that while the bill aimed to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in 2029, when parliamentary elections are due, the opposition’s lack of political will and attempt to politicise the census and the delimitation exercise acted as the final barrier.
“The record of the Congress speaks for itself; it has consistently opposed landmark decisions, be it the Shah Bano case, triple talaq or the abrogation of Article 370,” Dhami said.
He also claimed that “family-run” parties fear that empowering women from ordinary households will weaken their own political grip.
“The Congress and its partners, including the Samajwadi Party and the DMK, only want to see women from certain political families in power. They are intimidated by the prospect of women from humble backgrounds in policy-making roles,” he claimed.
Stating that Union Home Minister Amit Shah had already assured the House that no state would face a loss of seats after the delimitation exercise, Dhami dismissed claims that southern India’s representation would be diminished as “baseless rumours” intended to mislead the public.
Reiterating the principle of ‘one person, one vote, one value’, Dhami said Uttarakhand has already led the way by implementing the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the state to provide 100 per cent guarantee for women’s security. (PTI)
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