JAMMU, Apr 19: The Jammu and Kashmir unit of Congress on Sunday hit out at the BJP over a “blatant and desperate assault” on democracy under the “guise” of women’s empowerment, saying women’s rights cannot be reduced to campaign rhetoric or used to justify institutional manipulation.
Congress spokesperson Namrta Sharma said the failure to pass a bill to amend women’s reservation law in the Lok Sabha marked a decisive rejection of the BJP’s attempt to weaponise women’s rights to push through a politically motivated restructuring of India’s electoral framework.
The remarks followed after the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures from 2029 and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 was defeated in the Lower House on Friday.
“The Congress has always supported women’s reservation and continues to firmly back the 33 per cent quota for women in legislative bodies. When the 2023 law was passed, the entire opposition supported women’s reservation, reflecting a rare and clear national consensus on the issue,” Sharma said at a presser here.
Despite this consensus, she said, the BJP deliberately diluted the framework by linking its implementation to census and delimitation, effectively converting an immediate constitutional commitment into an “uncertain and deferred” promise.
Accusing the BJP of a “blatant and desperate assault” on democracy under the “guise” of women’s empowerment, the senior Congress leader said, “This was not about granting rights (to women) but about postponing them, ensuring that women’s reservation remains a political slogan rather than a realised constitutional guarantee.”
“The attempt has exposed the BJP’s real intent — not to implement reservation, but to fundamentally alter the structure of parliamentary representation to its advantage.
“Under the pretext of women’s reservation, the government sought to introduce sweeping structural changes, including altering seat distribution, to disturb the federal balance among states,” she alleged.
Sharma also said the Congress has consistently opposed the arbitrary linkage of reservation with delimitation, and emphasised that delimitation is not a neutral administrative exercise but a deeply political process capable of reshaping power equations across the country.
The Congress leader described the BJP’s approach as an “aggressive and calculated” attack on India’s federal structure and democratic equilibrium. “This pattern is not new,” she said, pointing to Jammu and Kashmir, where delimitation exercises previously raised serious concerns about political bias and selective advantage.
She alleged that the BJP is now attempting to replicate the same model at the national level by trying to redraw constituencies, recalibrate representation, and consolidate power in its favour.
“The government’s message was effectively coercive: accept delimitation on its terms or indefinitely delay women’s reservation,” Sharma claimed, calling it “political blackmail”.
The Congress leader also claimed that the bill not clearing the Lok Sabha test came as a significant political setback for the BJP and a major victory for the opposition and democratic accountability.
“This outcome is not merely a political win but a victory for constitutional values, fair representation, and the genuine empowerment of women,” she said.
“Had the government’s intent been sincere, it could have implemented women’s reservation immediately without linking it to delimitation, as has already been done in panchayats and municipalities,” she added. The Congress leader claimed that the delay was “deliberate and politically motivated”.
“The BJP seeks to retain women’s reservation as an electoral talking point rather than transforming it into a binding and enforceable right,” Sharma claimed.
She added that Congress will not allow women’s rights to be reduced to “campaign rhetoric” or used as a cover for “institutional manipulation”.
Demanding immediate implementation of women’s reservation, its complete delinking from delimitation, and removal of all conditional barriers that delay justice, Sharma said, “Give women their rightful share, now.”
