During an election rally in Ponneri on Saturday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, accusing them of "lying" to the country over their motivations for the recently defeated women’s quota bill. Speaking to a crowd in the northern Tamil Nadu town, Gandhi alleged that the legislative push was not about female representation at all, but rather a "diabolic" attempt to redraw the nation's electoral map and undermine the power of individual states.
Addressing the fallout from the Constitution amendment bill’s defeat in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Gandhi described the government’s actions as an "anti-national act" directed against the very concept of India as a union of states. He argued that the true intent behind the Bill was to use delimitation as a political weapon to weaken South Indian, North-Eastern, and smaller states. By changing the number of parliamentary seats allocated to each region, he claimed the BJP was attempting to dismantle the democratic foundations of the country.
The Leader of the Opposition pointed to recent changes in the electoral maps of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir as a blueprint for what the BJP intends to do across the rest of India. In Tamil Nadu specifically, Gandhi warned that the ruling party’s ultimate goal is to attack the state's history, culture, and language. He reiterated that the Constitution defines India as a union of states, a structure he believes ensures every state has a distinct and protected voice— one he claims the Prime Minister is actively trying to silence.
Campaigning for the upcoming April 23 polls, Gandhi framed the Tamil Nadu assembly election as a critical battle to prevent the BJP and RSS from gaining a foothold in the state. The Congress is currently contesting 28 seats as part of the ruling DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance. Rahul Gandhi concluded by praising the Opposition for standing "like a rock" to defeat what he termed the Bharatiya Janata Party's "nefarious designs" in Parliament. He, further, urged the voters to remain vigilant against further attempts to alter the country's federal structure.
Also read: Centre’s plan to change federal structure fails: Priyanka
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