Mumbai, April 20 (IANS) Raising the stakes in the ongoing political battle over gender representation, Congress Working Committee member and MP Praniti Shinde on Monday accepted Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ challenge for an open debate on the Women’s Reservation Bill.

Shinde further escalated the challenge by demanding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi also join the discussion.

Addressing a press conference with party MP Shobha Bachhav, Shinde accused the BJP of using the reservation issue as a “Trojan horse” to implement a hidden agenda of constituency delimitation, which she claimed would threaten the country’s federal unity.

Shinde challenged the Chief Minister to fix the venue and time for a public debate.

Shinde and Bachhav alleged that the BJP’s real intent behind the special session was to push through delimitation measures that could create a rift between northern and southern states.

They demanded that the 33 per cent reservation be applied immediately to the existing 543 Lok Sabha seats without the conditions of a new census or delimitation. Shinde said that the BJP’s 2023 Women’s Reservation Bill was designed with “clumsy conditions” to delay its implementation.

“The BJP government called a special session under the guise of women’s reservation, but the agenda did not even mention it initially. Their true motive was to push through constituency delimitation to divide the country for electoral gains. This conspiracy was foiled by the Congress and the INDIA alliance, forcing the government on the back foot,” she said.

Shinde also referred to the Chief Minister’s “female foeticide” remark, turning the attack towards the BJP’s track record on women’s safety.

She cited incidents in Manipur, Hathras, Unnao, and Badlapur, stating: “The BJP does not just commit political foeticide; they are responsible for character assassination and physical atrocities against women on a daily basis.”

Bachhav highlighted the historical contributions of the Congress, crediting former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi for introducing 33 per cent reservation in Panchayati Raj institutions and Sonia Gandhi for pushing it to 50 per cent in several states.

“There are 1.5 million women in local bodies today because of the Congress. If the 2023 Bill had been implemented for the 2024 elections, we would have had around 180 women MPs. Instead, the BJP chose to tie the Bill to conditions. The country knows who is truly pro-women,” she said.

Taking a swipe at the organisational structure of the BJP and the RSS, Shinde questioned why the BJP has never had a woman national president. She also dismissed the BJP’s proposed signature campaign as a “collection of bogus signatures”, alleging that the party is built on a foundation of “falsehoods”.

Both Shinde and Bachhav said that if the BJP is sincere about women’s empowerment, it should drop the census requirement and implement the 33 per cent quota immediately within the current Lok Sabha strength.

–IANS

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