India, A Union Of States

That test played out most visibly in Parliament.

A special three-day session of Parliament. A 21-hour intense debate on the Women’s Reservation Bill linked to the Delimitation Bill. Home Minister Amit Shah making an impassioned appeal to all the MPs to support the Bill. The Opposition coming together as one unit speaking against the Bill. Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, members of the largest Opposition party, the Congress, arguing against linking the two Bills, joined spiritedly by Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK’s) Kanimozhi Karunanidhi giving a fitting reply to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s jibe about ‘kala tika’. And finally, for the first time since 2014, a Bill moved by the ruling party is defeated in the Lok Sabha for lack of support on April 17. The stuff of true functional democracies.

But this moment did not emerge in isolation. Over the last decade, the functioning of Parliament was getting stifled.

The linking of the Women’s Reservation Bill to the Delimitation Bill appeared like yet another masterstroke by the many Chanakyas, the shrewd political intriguistas in the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), that will put the Opposition in a bind. It can’t be seen as saying no to women’s reservation, and in the process the delimitation exercise can be started. They feel delimitation based on population will give an advantage to the more populous, poorer northern states in representation in Parliament and will penalise the richer, leaner southern states. But the Opposition stood united, there were no defectors or turncoats, and through the debate in Parliament, was able to explain to the people the reasons for voting against the twin Bills.

In that sense, this debate, and the result, gives the august body new oxygen.

On April 18, Modi, in his address to the nation, said the “desires and dreams of the women have been crushed”.

“Nari Shakti (women’s power) and the country’s benefit have to take the hit. It was very sad to see that when the Bill was defeated, these persons were celebrating and banging (on) the bench,” he said.

His address came one day after the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which proposed an increase of up to 816 seats from the current 543 to “operationalise” the women’s reservation bill before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census, was defeated in the Lok Sabha.

The PM called the Congress, the DMK, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the alliance, “criminals of the Constitution and women empowerment”.

“Congress hates the topic of women’s reservation. It has always created hurdles to stop women’s reservation,” he said in his address to the nation.

In Tamil Nadu, the DMK urged people to protest against the proposed delimitation with black flags. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. K. Stalin burnt the copy of the Bill that he said would punish the South Indian states for their progressive policies and population control.

In West Bengal, exclusion of voters under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is being vehemently opposed by the TMC.

The PM’s address was broadcast across most media channels and while the private television channels in India—under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s 2022 guidelines—must carry PM’s speeches aimed at national integration and themes of national importance, the address also comes at a time when two states are all set to vote, including Tamil Nadu where delimitation has now become an election issue.

The Women’s Reservation Bill need not be linked to delimitation. It can’t be conditional. It should have been implemented in 2023 and must be implemented now without linking it with delimitation.