New Delhi, Apr 15 (UNI) Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien on Wednesday launched a sharp attack on the Centre, alleging that the government is attempting to “mock the Constitution, Parliament and the women of this country” by using the issue of women’s reservation as a pretext to push its “devious” delimitation agenda.
In a strongly worded post on X, O’Brien accused the government of lacking genuine commitment to women’s empowerment. “This Govt plots cheap stunt to MOCK the Constitution, mock Parliament and mock the women of this great nation. They have never cared a fig about women. DELIMITATION IS THE DEVIOUS AGENDA. Women, their excuse,” he said.
The TMC leader also invoked a past statement by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and union Home Minister Amit Shah to take note of her long-standing position on women’s reservation.
Referring to Banerjee’s remarks in the Lok Sabha in 1998, O’Brien highlighted her demand for a clear timeline for the introduction of the Women’s Reservation Bill.
Quoting Banerjee’s statement from 28 years ago, he said, “Where is the prestige of women in this country that we can't introduce the Women’s Reservation Bill? Chair should tell us specific date, information, timeframe when this Bill is going to come.”
The renewed political sparring comes amid an ongoing national debate over the implementation of women’s reservation in legislatures, particularly in the context of the proposed delimitation exercise, which is expected to redraw parliamentary constituencies based on updated population data. Opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, have repeatedly expressed concerns that the sequencing of delimitation and reservation could have significant political implications, especially for states with differing population growth rates.
The Centre has maintained that women’s reservation is a landmark reform aimed at enhancing political representation, but critics argue that linking its rollout to delimitation and census processes could delay its implementation and serve broader electoral calculations. UNI SKA AAB