Rahul Gandhi alleges ‘hidden delimitation agenda’ behind Women’s Bill

Rahul Gandhi accused Narendra Modi and Amit Shah of using the women’s reservation bill to push delimitation, alleging a bid to weaken states, while attacking BJP and AIADMK during Tamil Nadu poll campaign rallies

Ranipet/Tiruchirappalli (Tamil Nadu): Congress top leader Rahul Gandhi on Saturday alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah “lied” to the nation on the Women’s Reservation Bill, which they used as a camouflage to conceal delimitation to redraw the electoral map of the country and replicate “Assam and Jammu and Kashmir model”.

Launching his campaign for the April 23 Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, Rahul also took a swipe at NDA constituent AIADMK. Slamming AIADMK as a “mask” for the BJP, he said the latter wanted to install a chief minister in Tamil Nadu who would “sell” Tamil Nadu and listen exactly to what Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah wanted.

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He accused AIADMK, the main opposition party of compromising because of corruption.
Addressing an election rally in central Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirappalli – the third and last in his one-day campaign, he alleged that the BJP wanted, at all costs, to remove DMK president MK Stalin as chief minister and appoint a “puppet” in his place.

Everybody was aware that his relationship with Tamil Nadu was not political but one of mutual respect, love and affection, Rahul said. His ties with the state were very old and the people showed the same warm sentiments and feelings towards him as they had for his grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi, he said.

“I want you to know that I will protect the interests of Tamil Nadu and the Tamil people. I am your solider in Delhi. Whatever Tamil Nadu needs in Delhi, I will fight for that.” People just need to tell him what needs to be done and he would do it, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha promised.
“I am proud of you, for what you have done for this country, your tradition, culture and language. In this election, remember we are fighting to keep the BJP-RSS out of the state,” he said. He earlier addressed election rallies at Ranipet and Ponneri in northern Tamil Nadu.

Behind the Women’s Reservation Bill, he alleged a “diabolic idea” of a bid to change the nation’s electoral map and weaken states and likened the attempt to an “anti-national act” and said it was against the union of states. The BJP-led government transformed the electoral map of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir and they intend doing it in the rest of the country as well, he alleged.
At Ranipet, located about 120 km from Chennai, Gandhi spoke on the Constitution amendment bill that was defeated in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

“Yesterday, you might have seen what PM Modi, and Home Minister Amit Shah were trying to do in Parliament. They told the nation a lie, they said they were trying to pass a bill for women’s representation. But hidden behind that bill was a diabolic idea,” he alleged.

“They wanted to change the number of seats that each state gets. They wanted to weaken south Indian states, weaken north eastern states and weaken smaller states…what the BJP was trying to do yesterday was an anti-national act and it was against the union of states,” he alleged.

The entire opposition stood like a rock and defeated the BJP’s “nefarious design.” The BJP is attacking the democratic foundations of India, he said adding they were using delimitation as a political weapon.
“They have transformed the electoral map of Assam and Jammu and Kashmir and they want to do that to the rest of the country. Their main idea is to attack your (Tamil) history, culture, language and tradition,” Rahul charged. The people have already seen PM Modi “attacking” the Constitution.

“In the Constitution, it is clearly written India, that is Bharat, is a union of states. That means that every state has to have a voice. ” The LoP said that the Assembly election was about stopping BJP-RSS from capturing Tamil Nadu. The Congress is a part of the ruling DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance and is contesting from 28 seats.

Launching a scathing attack on the BJP and RSS, Rahul accused them of attempting to undermine the Indian constitution and capture the state. The BJP’s “one nation, one people, one language” ideology and its push for delimitation were designed to alter the electoral map and weaken Tamil Nadu’s unique identity, history, culture, and language, he claimed.