The elephant in the room has to be confronted tomorrow, if not today. The delimitation is a question that has to be resolved. A way out should be found out by way of unlimited consultations at all levels. The NDA government has been thoroughly exposed for trying to alter the electoral map of India in the name of women reservations through the constitution amendment bill. What Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his address to the nation on Saturday after the Bill failed in Lok Sabha was hardly unexpected. He should have said the same thing in Bengal election campaign as a BJP leader. He should not have said as a prime minister on an official platform.
Modi blamed the opposition parties, mainly the Congress, for rejecting the Bill which would have empowered the women of the country. The Election Commission did not respond. If it were to be a T N Seshan or S Y Quraishi, the Chief Election Commissioner would have issued a notice to the PM asking for explanation. We cannot expect such an action from the present incumbent, Gyanesh Kumar, who is a humble nominee of PM and Home Minister.
Modi said the Congress was against the reforms. It is not a fact. It was the Congress which brought a lot of reforms in the country since 1947. The economic reforms introduced by P V Narasimha Rao when he was prime minister in 1991 were continued by the BJP Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, UPA-2’s Dr Manmohan Singh and even by Narendra Modi himself. The education reforms and many other reforms brought by the Congress regimes were opposed by the BJP when it was in opposition. Congress, on the other hand, when in opposition, supported the reforms brought by the NDA government. Even the women reservations were first thought of by Rajiv Gandhi because of whom about 15 lakh women are elected members in local bodies today.
The present fight against Mamata Banerjee has made Modi to introduce manipulated Bill knowing very well that the government was going to lose. The electoral fight for the BJP is only in West Bengal not in Tamil Nadu where it is not the main factor. Mamata is the target. She had women to the extent of 37 percent among Lok Sabha Members and 46 percent among Rajya Sabha Members of the TMC. Modi has no comparable numbers. He is not known to have supported women. Even when several women were molested in Manipur, he did not condemn it for almost one year. But he is desperate to prove to the Bengali women that he is more committed to their representation than Mamata Banerjee whose main plank is women.
In fact, this is a major defeat for the BJP in the last twelve years. Modi has made a lot of preparation talking incessantly about Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam wherever he went for about two weeks. He never explained why he had to organize a special session of parliament in middle of election campaign. He could have gone for the special session after April 29, the last day of polling in West Bengal. He also failed to inform the people why the women reservation bill which was voted unanimously three years ago in 2023 and has become part of the constitution could not be implemented in 2024 general elections in spite of opposition parties urging the government to do so. Shashi Tharoor, the Congress MP from Tiruvanantapuram, called the BJP exercise a ‘political demonetization.’
As we wait for the results of the 2026 census we are confronting the demographic divergence that threatens our federal fabric. If we adhere to the ‘one person, one vote and one value’ assured by Article 81 of the Constitution we will be rewarding the people who failed to implement family planning, invest in the health and education of the citizens and penalize those who succeeded. Those states which curbed population growth and which have been contributing to the country’s GDP and social progress would be relegated to be background.
What are the alternative models of representation that can satisfy gender empowerment? In the US the House of Representatives has a strength of 435 since 1929 although its population had grown three times. Speaking on the Bill before it was put to vote on Friday, Home Minister Amit Shah asked how one MP can represent 30 lakh people? If what HM and PM promised is done and the Lok Sabha has 850 Members, would it be possible to discuss any issue purposefully? It is a problem. We have to find a solution. There has to be a massive debate involving cross section of the people. It cannot be done by gerrymandering as the NDA government tried to do. Not by manipulation of introducing the delimitation in the guise of women reservation. Clever manipulation is part of politics. But it should be informed and thought out. We have to study what other older democracies in the West have done to resolve similar problems. Europe can give us many models. Delimitation is a challenge which requires statesmanship and a spirit of accommodation and compromise. Authoritarian ways would not help.
BJP, like the Congress and many other opposition parties with the sole exception of TMC, are reluctant to unsettle the interests of male representatives. Perhaps to assuage their apprehensions, the idea of increasing the number of seats by 50 percent may have come up encouraging the NDA government to go for women reservation along with expansion of legislatures. The ruling party rhetoric could not convince any new members by its elaborate argument. It has got only five votes more than the strength of NDA out of which four belong to YSRCP.
Which means, Modi and Shah could convert only one additional member to their side. Rajya Sabha may have to undergo some changes. Now we have representatives in Rajya Sabha according to the population. Same as in Lok Sabah. RS is called House of States. In the US, the Senate, the upper house as our RS, has two members from every state. That formula could be adopted for India. It could act a check on the Lok Sabha. Bigger States such as Uttar Pradesh have to be divided into smaller ones. When Mayawati was in power she suggested that UP can be divided into four States. States like West Bengal, Maharashtra, Bihar and Tamil Nadu can be divided into smaller units for administrative convenience as well as political justice. Many such ideas have to be discussed at various levels. There is time for the discussion on delimitation. Women reservation does not have to wait for delimitation. It can be implemented in 2029 elections if the government is committed to women empowerment. The 2023 Bill which became an Act is good enough.
Prominent Journalist
Dr. K. Ramachandra Murthy is a versatile journalist with a distinguished career. Dr. Murthy began his extensive career with Andhra Prabha of The Indian Express group in Bengaluru. He was editor of Udayam, Vaartha and Andhra Jyothy. Dr. Murthy founded and edited HMTV news channel and The Hans India, an English newspaper. He was also editorial director of the Telugu newspaper, Saakshi. He was awarded Ph. D for his research work in rural reporting. Dr. Murthy’s five decades in journalism showcases his influential roles across both print and electronic media. He wrote the political biography of NTR published by Harper Collins.
