Delhi Environment Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Monday criticised opposition parties after the women’s quota Bill failed to secure a two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha, saying they had committed a “grave sin” and would face the anger of women voters.
Speaking to mediapersons in Amritsar, Sirsa alleged that opposition parties, including the Congress and the AAP, opposed the Bill because they did not want the BJP to receive credit for implementing women’s reservation.
“You have committed a grave sin by voting against women. This reflects your mindset. You have betrayed daughters and sisters,” the minister said. “Congress, AAP and other parties will have to answer before the people,” he added. “You will face the ire of sisters and daughters.” Sirsa claimed the opposition opposed the Bill only to deny political credit to the BJP.
He said that if women had received reservation in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies earlier, people would have questioned why the Congress and its allies failed to implement it during their decades in power.
Sirsa also claimed Punjab would have benefited from the proposal, with Lok Sabha seats increasing from 13 to 20 and Assembly seats rising from 117 to more than 170.
Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message, Sirsa said the effort to secure greater political representation and rights for women would continue.
While 298 members voted in favour of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 230 MPs voted against it on April 17. Out of the 528 members who participated in the voting, the Bill required 352 votes to secure the mandatory two-thirds majority.
The Bill proposed increasing the strength of the Lok Sabha to 816 seats from the present 543 to operationalise women’s reservation before the 2029 parliamentary elections following delimitation based on the 2011 Census.
The proposal also included increasing the number of seats in state and Union Territory assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
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