Women's Reservation: A Contentious Debate Over Delimitation

Congress leader Shashi Tharoor criticizes the government's move to link women's reservation to the expansion of Parliament through delimitation. During a Lok Sabha debate, he expresses concern over combining women's rights with complex political exercises, warning of potential damage akin to demonetization.

Senior Congress figure Shashi Tharoor has condemned the government's approach to linking women's reservation with parliamentary expansion via delimitation, branding it 'political demonetisation.' The remarks were made during a Lok Sabha debate on three bills altering women's quota laws and establishing a delimitation commission.

Tharoor underscores the bipartisan consensus on women's reservation but criticizes the legislative strategy as constraining women's aspirations to a complicated administrative process. He challenges why an urgent moral issue is being intertwined with contentious demographic adjustments.

Warning of political disruption akin to demonetization, Tharoor cautions against hasty delineation reforms, suggesting that the focus should be on immediate implementation of women's reservation based on current parliamentary composition. The bills, including the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, were introduced in Lok Sabha, alongside others amending reservation laws for certain Union territories.

(With inputs from agencies.)