Listen to this article:

New Delhi: The opposition Congress party on Friday (April 10) hit out at the Modi government for a “U-turn” on two sensitive and contentious issues – political reservations for women and redrawing of political constituencies – alleging that with the sudden moves to fast track them, the Union government was trying to cover up its “monumental failures” in governance and “severe setbacks” in foreign policy.

The Congress Working Committee (CWC), which met on Friday, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi owes an “apology” to Indian women for how it is handling the crucial reservation issue in particular. The CWC reminded him that he did not accept the Congress’ demand to implement the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, from the 2024 elections itself.

At the time, the Union government had pushed the deadline for implementation forward despite a clamour for immediate action and clear deadlines.

Rajya Sabha MP and Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said, “The Prime Minister [is] trying to project himself as the sole champion of women’s reservation… Actually he owes an apology to the women of India.”

The Prime Minister has started writing articles in the media trying to project himself as the sole champion of women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha from 2029 onwards. Actually he owes an apology to the women of India. When the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam,… — Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) April 10, 2026

The Prime Minister has started writing articles in the media trying to project himself as the sole champion of women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha and the Vidhan Sabha from 2029 onwards.

Actually he owes an apology to the women of India. When the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam,…

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) April 10, 2026

He added, “Thirty months later, facing defeat in the assembly elections – in spite of the Election Commission functioning as a subordinate office of the Union Home Ministry – the PM has changed his mind. He wants us to forget the Census and forget the census-based delimitation on the grounds that it will take too long. This is despite the fact that his Census Registrar has clarified that the results will be out by 2027.”

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge also said that the government is yet to present any formal draft bill or proposal to the House or Opposition on reservations for women.

He said the Congress “and the floor leaders of opposition parties had written three times to the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, saying that after the last day of polling for the West Bengal elections on 29 April, the government should convene an all-party meeting and discuss the matter seriously. But despite all our requests, the government has not heeded our words, only to change the narrative and for electoral gains”.

महिला आरक्षण का विषय कांग्रेस की सामाजिक न्याय की धारा का अभिन्न हिस्सा हैं। महिलाओं के सशक्तिकरण में कांग्रेस सबसे आगे रही है। • हमें महिलाओं और समाज के कमजोर तबकों के कल्याण जैसे मुद्दो पर किसी से प्रमाणपत्र लेने की जरूरत नही है। • Panchayati Raj Institutions और urban… pic.twitter.com/grUS5M28Eo — Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) April 10, 2026

महिला आरक्षण का विषय कांग्रेस की सामाजिक न्याय की धारा का अभिन्न हिस्सा हैं। महिलाओं के सशक्तिकरण में कांग्रेस सबसे आगे रही है।

• हमें महिलाओं और समाज के कमजोर तबकों के कल्याण जैसे मुद्दो पर किसी से प्रमाणपत्र लेने की जरूरत नही है।

• Panchayati Raj Institutions और urban… pic.twitter.com/grUS5M28Eo

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) April 10, 2026

The CWC meeting was convened to formulate a response to the government’s insistence on calling a special session of Parliament to push through women’s reservation without adequate debate, disregarding the fact that campaigning for assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal would be at its peak.

Besides, the CWC questioned the propriety of raking up emotive and politically charged issues, when not urgent, suddenly and after the Model Code of Conduct was in place. They said it was an attempt to skew the mood in the Union government’s favour when campaigns were in full swing.

The Congress pointed out that the government was changing its own proposal, passed just three years ago, on women’s reservation. The earlier proposal banked on the BJP holding sway in Lok Sabha, and thus being in a position to command a constitutional majority. But at the moment, it lacks even a simple majority in the House.

Even if its National Democratic Alliance allies backed the BJP, it would need help from the opposition benches to rustle up the two-thirds support (from members present and voting in the House) to clear women’s reservation as previously envisaged.

Congress leaders, therefore, said that the government’s new special session idea was a strategy to hustle through the bill while overcoming the changed scenario the BJP confronts in Lok Sabha. The party said that it will move forward unitedly after discussing the matter with other opposition parties, and will “formulate a collective strategy” on the reservations issue.

Kharge also said that his party did not “need a certificate” on welfare of women and weaker sections, pointing out that one-third reservation for women in Panchayati Raj Institutions and urban local bodies was started by Rajiv Gandhi, and that the 73rd and 74th constitutional amendments were passed during a Congress government, as a result of which “nearly 14.5 lakh women are elected representatives in rural and urban bodies”.

Kharge pointed out that Sarojini Naidu was the first Indian woman president of the Congress a century ago, when women did not have the right to vote, and that women have consistently held high positions in Congress governments.

In a statement on Friday, the CPI(M) Politburo also said it remains committed to mandatory reservation of one-third seats for women in Parliament and state assemblies, and demanded “wider consultation” and raised concerns over the proposed bill linking the increase in number of women Members of Parliament to an increase in the total number of seats.

The other bill the government wants to bring in just as speedily – on delimitation of parliamentary constituencies – has rung alarm bells within all opposition parties in the INDIA bloc. Kharge said:

It [the Union government] wants to increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha from 543 to 816. There will also be a proportional increase in the state assemblies. This DELIMITATION proposal will have serious consequences. Therefore, there is a need for very deep deliberation on DELIMITATION.

Samajwadi Party leader and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav, called making the 2011 Census a basis for these seat expansions “faulty”, especially since the decennial Census of India is ongoing – after numerous postponements by the Union government. Earlier this week, Yadav had said:

The structure of the Women’s Reservation would be faulty if it was based on the old figures of 2011 Census. The Union government is trying to get these constitutional amendments passed in a special session called between April 16 and 18.

Congress president Kharge also said that the government was acting in “violation of the election code of conduct. But we do not expect the Election Commission, which is functioning like a subordinate office of the Home Ministry, to even consider these matters.”

© The Wire