Priyanka Gandhi Calls Women’s Quota Setback a “Black Day”, Dares BJP to Reintroduce 2023 Bill

Senior Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday slammed the BJP-led Union government, calling it a “Black Day” after the Centre’s Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill failed to pass in the Lok Sabha, and accused the ruling alliance of falsely branding the Opposition as “anti-women”.

Priyanka Gandhi challenged the government to immediately reintroduce the earlier women’s reservation framework without conditions. “Call Parliament on Monday, bring the bill, and let’s see who is anti-women. We will support it,” she said, directly countering the BJP’s charge that Opposition parties were obstructing women’s empowerment.

At the heart of the dispute lies the implementation of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, passed unanimously in 2023, which guarantees 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. While the law has been notified, its rollout remains stalled as the government has linked it to a fresh census and a subsequent delimitation exercise based on the 2011 population data, a condition the Opposition has consistently opposed.

The Wayand MP, emphasised that the Opposition’s position is not against reservation itself, but against the preconditions attached to it. “If there are minor changes required to implement the law immediately, they should be made without delay,” she said, urging the Centre to move beyond what she described as “technicalities”.

She also accused the BJP of attempting to mislead voters in poll-bound states such as West Bengal and Tamil Nadu by portraying Opposition parties as being opposed to women’s rights. According to her, such messaging would not hold, as “women across the country are watching closely”.

Regional parties echoed similar concerns. The ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu has proposed implementing the quota within the current strength of the Lok Sabha, while All India Trinamool Congress has indicated support for even a 50% reservation, provided it is not tied to delimitation based on outdated census figures.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, speaking at a rally in Tamil Nadu, warned that the proposed framework could have broader political consequences. He argued that delimitation based on the 2011 census risks reducing representation for southern and smaller states, and claimed the Opposition had resisted what he described as a structural imbalance.

In the wake of the bill’s defeat, the INDIA bloc has announced plans to formally write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding that the 2023 law be implemented without being tied to delimitation.

A day after the rare parliamentary setback, the first time in over a decade that a government bill has been defeated in the Lok Sabha, the political contest swiftly shifted from numbers to narrative, with the Opposition seeking to reclaim ground on the issue of women’s representation. The BJP, however, has sought to turn the setback into a political counterattack. Union Home Minister Amit Shah accused parties including Congress, the Trinamool Congress, DMK, and the Samajwadi Party of blocking what he termed a “historic reform”. He warned that the Opposition would face electoral consequences, particularly among women voters, asserting that the issue would resonate far beyond Parliament.