Raj Thackeray slams Centre over delimitation, women’s quota link

Raj Thackeray alleged the Centre is using delimitation linked to women’s reservation to retain power, warning population-based seat allocation may disadvantage southern and other states while asserting his party supports women’s quota but opposes delimitation

Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray on Friday alleged that the BJP-led Union government was trying to retain power perpetually through measures such as delimitation under the guise of the women’s reservation bill. The attempt to “Hindi-ize” South India and other states like West Bengal, Punjab, Odisha, the northeastern states, Maharashtra and Goa, which possess their own distinct cultures, languages, and scripts, would begin with this process, he said.

In a Facebook post, Thackeray said that when the 131st constitutional amendment was brought, it appeared that the plan was to undertake delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies and then provide 33 per cent reservation for women. But suddenly on Thursday night, when the debate on the women’s reservation bill was ongoing, the Centre issued a notification declaring that the 2023 Women’s Reservation Bill had come into effect starting April 17. If discussions regarding amendments were still going on, “what was the hurry”, he asked.

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“The Central government has embarked on an attempt to ensure its perpetual hold on power through measures such as the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies and the women’s reservation bill,” Thackeray claimed. Thackeray, whose party currently has no MP or even an MLA, said the MNS does not oppose reservation for women. Women getting reservation in legislatures would be a matter of joy, he said.

“We are specifically against the proposed delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies based on population figures. Articles 81 and 82 of the Constitution stipulate that seats in the Lok Sabha shall be allocated in proportion to the population of respective states,” he said.

It meant the states which kept population growth under control through advancements in education, healthcare and women’s empowerment would effectively be penalised, said Thackeray. The states which allowed their populations to grow unchecked will see their parliamentary representation increase, he said, asking what kind of weird justice this was.

People from three or four our northern states had started establishing significant foothold across states such as Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, claimed Thackeray, whose party had taken a strident anti-North Indians line in the past.
He also claimed that it would be wrong to expect the proposed delimitation commission to be truly autonomous and impartial.