Maharashtra Opposition Slams PM on Women's Quota, Fadnavis Alleges Hypocrisy
MUMBAI: Opposition parties in Maharashtra have criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal for cross-party support on the 33% women's reservation quota, pointing out that Parliament had already passed the legislation unanimously in 2023. In response, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis defended the Centre and termed the opposition's stance "hypocrisy."
The political confrontation erupted after Prime Minister Modi, in his Independence Day address, called women's reservation the "call of the hour" and appealed to all political parties to support the measure and take credit for it.
Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders questioned the need for a fresh appeal when the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam had already been approved by both Houses of Parliament. Supriya Sule, working president of the NCP (SP), said all parties were already unified on the issue and wanted to see the reservation implemented immediately without further delay.
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut similarly questioned the central government's timeline. Raut noted that the Bill had secured unanimous clearance in Parliament in 2023 and asked why the administration had not brought it into effect yet.
Implementation of the women's reservation legislation is currently linked to the completion of a fresh census and a delimitation exercise. The central government is seeking to introduce a constitutional amendment alongside a proposed Delimitation Bill to enable the reservation from 2029 using existing population data.
Opposition parties strongly resist linking the women's quota to delimitation. They argue that redrawing constituency boundaries based on population metrics would penalize southern and eastern states that effectively managed population growth, while disproportionately shifting parliamentary seats and political leverage to northern states.
Chief Minister Fadnavis rejected the opposition's objections, asserting that backing the women's quota requires supporting the legal mechanisms needed to enact it. Fadnavis explained that the 2023 legislation included conditions requiring a census and delimitation. He stated that when a constitutional amendment was proposed to allow implementation via existing data, opposition parties failed to support it, preventing it from securing the required two-thirds majority.
Fadnavis maintained that the opposition was fully aware of these statutory requirements from the outset and stated that their current criticism disregards the legislative process needed to execute the quota.
