Congress calls PM Modi’s women’s quota plea ‘drama’

The Congress on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of doing 'drama' over his Independence Day appeal for the women's reservation bill, saying his single-point agenda was 'Modi preservation, not women's reservation'. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the government should implement the 33% quota on the current strength of the Lok Sabha for the 2029 general election instead of linking it to delimitation.

Ramesh pointed to the chronology of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, which was passed unanimously. He said the government notified the Act only on April 16, 2026, while Parliament was debating delimitation, and then attempted to pass a Constitution Amendment Bill linking reservation to seat expansion. The Bill, which sought to raise Lok Sabha strength from 543 to 816, required a two-thirds majority but was defeated on April 17; 298 MPs voted in favour and 230 against.

Modi, in his Red Fort address on August 15, had urged all parties to support the legislation, saying the issue had been stuck in political wrangling for 40 years. The Congress, however, rejected the appeal. Ramesh said the government lacked the numbers to pass the measure and would never get them.