P Chidambaram writes: Poisoned arrows shot down |
The government and the BJP tried to weave a narrative around the Constitution (131st) Amendment Bill, 2026. The narrative was deeply flawed: it was based on distorted facts and dubious interpretation of the law.
The law on April 16, 2026 was clear as crystal. The Constitution (106th) Amendment had been passed in September 2023 and was part of the Constitution of India. It inserted Article 334A in the Constitution but, for reasons known only to the government, the amendment was not notified. (It was notified on the night of April 16). The Amendment provided for reservation for women in the present strength of the Lok Sabha (543 members). Reservation for women was a settled fact. There was no occasion to re-visit Article 334A. The contrary narrative was a lie.
However, the government hit upon a mischievous idea that the rulers thought served multiple purposes: disrupt the election campaign in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal; create an illusion of fair delimitation; sneak in a delimitation process that would be grossly unfair and unjust to the Southern states; and float a false narrative that ‘reservation’ was linked to ‘delimitation’. When each one of the purposes was exposed, the narrative collapsed like a pack of cards.
The government and the BJP are obliged to answer the following questions:
Why did you re-open the question of reservation of one-third of the seats for women?
Why did you re-open the question of reservation of one-third of the seats for women?
That question was settled by the Constitution (106th) Amendment........