'Historic moment' for women’s empowerment, says PM Narendra Modi ahead of special session

New Delhi: Hours before the convening of a special Parliament sitting, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that India was set to take a "historic step" towards women's empowerment.

"Starting today, in the special session of Parliament, our country is all set to take a historic step towards women's empowerment. The respect for our mothers and sisters is the respect for the nation, and with this very spirit, we are moving forward resolutely in this direction," the PM posted on X.

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The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi however said Congress while supportng women's reservation will not allow the government to steal the share of representation of Other Backward Class (OBCs), Dalit and Adivasi communities calling it an "anti-national" move by the NDA.

In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi said the Congress unequivocally supports Women's Reservation, but the government must do delimitation only based on the 2026 Census, which is currently underway, adding that the Caste census must also be taken into consideration before bringing any such legislation.

"What the government is proposing now has nothing to do with women's reservation. This amendment is an attempted power grab using delimitation and gerrymandering. We will not allow 'Hissa Chori' from OBC, Dalit and Adivasi communities by ignoring the caste census data. We will also not allow Southern, North Eastern, North Western and smaller states to be treated unfairly," he said.

"PM Modi, RSS is afraid of the caste census," Gandhi said while claiming that the BJP does not want backward communities to get a fair share of representation.

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Rahul Gandhi said that if the government is serious about women's reservation in the legislature, then it must implement the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, which was already passed in 2023 in the Parliament.

The Centre has called a special sitting of Parliament from April 16 to 18.

The government is planning to implement the women's reservation ahead of the 2029 General Elections by bringing in an amendment to the 2023 Act and a constitutional amendment to delink the delimitation process from the 2027 census.

The government has proposed to increase the number of seats in the House to 850, with 815 seats proposed for the States and the remaining 35 for the Union Territories. The Lok Sabha has 543 seats at present.

The opposition to the proposed delimitation bill has been mounting for a long time and has escalated after the Centre's recent approval of draft amendment bills to operationalise the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023.

The opposition has also objected to haste in convening a special Parliament sitting amid the election season.

As this happened, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin this morning burned a copy of the proposed delimitation bill, whose implementation is tied to a population-based revision of constituencies based on the 2011 census.

Stalin also raised a black flag to kick off statewide anti-delimitation agitation.