Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making a “sudden U-turn” on the implementation of the Nari Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, alleging that the move is intended to divert attention from pressing national concerns.
In a post on X, Ramesh recalled that the new Parliament House, inaugurated in September 2023, coincided with the passage of the landmark legislation.
The Act amended the Constitution to provide one-third reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies, including one-third reservation within seats earmarked for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
He emphasised that the implementation of these provisions was clearly tied to the completion of delimitation and census exercises. “Both these reservations were to become operational only after the delimitation and census exercises were completed,” Ramesh said.
The Congress leader noted that during the parliamentary debate, the Indian National Congress had demanded that the reservation be implemented from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“The Modi government had then argued that this was not possible without completing delimitation and the census first,” he said.
Accusing the Prime Minister of reversing that stance, Ramesh remarked, “Now the ‘U-turn Ustad’ has, after 30 months, suddenly changed his mind and wants to implement the reservations without completing the delimitation and census operations.”
He further alleged that the timing of the move was politically driven. “The PM is unmatched in unleashing WMDs—Weapons of Mass Diversion. Desperate to change the narrative from his foreign policy failures and from the LPG and energy crisis facing the country, he has come up with this new initiative,” Ramesh said.
According to him, the government is planning to convene a special two-day session of Parliament in the coming fortnight to amend the Act and operationalise the reservation provisions. “Wanting to take full political advantage of it, he has let it be known that such a session will be called,” he added.
Ramesh said opposition parties have jointly written to the government seeking an all-party meeting after April 29, when the current round of assembly elections concludes. “Such crucial amendments require detailed discussion and consensus,” he stressed.
He also flagged reports suggesting that the government is considering increasing the strength of the Lok Sabha and state assemblies by 50 per cent, calling for “careful deliberation” on the proposal.
Expressing concern over the timing of the proposed session, Ramesh criticised what he described as the erosion of the Election Commission’s Model Code of Conduct. “The Model Code of Conduct has been reduced to being the Modi Code of Campaigning. Calling a special session in April would violate one MCC while aligning with another,” he said.
The Congress leader also questioned the government’s commitment to conducting a caste census, announced in April 2025. He noted that the demand had earlier been dismissed by the ruling establishment, which had accused Congress leaders of promoting an “urban naxal mindset” during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and the 2024 Lok Sabha election campaign.