As Oppn turns the tables on BJP over women’s quota Bill, what is INDIA bloc’s next strategy

The meeting was also attended by Congress Parliamentary Party president Sonia Gandhi, Congress general secretary (communication) Jairam Ramesh, NCP (Sharad Pawar)’s Supriya Sule, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sanjay Raut, Revolutionary Socialist Party’s N K Premachandran, CPI(M)’s John Brittas, and CPI’s P Sandosh Kumar, among others.

Sources told The Indian Express that the mood in the meeting was mostly jubilant and that Sonia Gandhi expressed happiness over the Modi government’s “defeat”. She was requested to speak by the leaders at the meeting, but she declined. Kharge even brought sweets for the leaders.

“The overall consensus was that it was a moment to celebrate. But we also talked about the work that has to be done to check the BJP narrative,” a source said.

It is learnt that some Congress MPs suggested that the INDIA bloc should hold a joint press conference or write a joint letter to the PM demanding implementation of the 33 per cent reservation for women in the existing 543-member Lok Sabha immediately.

In response to this suggestion, O’Brien said that in West Bengal, the TMC and Congress are facing each other in the Assembly polls and such a joint effort would not be a good idea. Priyanka is learnt to have concurred with O’Brien and it was decided that no joint letter or press conference will be held.

“It was decided that no joint letter or press conference will be done as it would hamper chances of parties going up against each other in Bengal. The Left parties, TMC and Congress are up against each other in Bengal. While all parties were told to individually convey their message to the people of the country, no specifics were discussed regarding what will be done by the parties. It was left to the parties to decide internally themselves,” said a leader present at the meeting.

Sources in the Congress said that late on Friday, after voting in the Lok Sabha concluded, Kharge called top leaders of all Opposition parties and thanked them for defeating the BJP’s “nefarious design to alter the electoral map of the country through delimitation”. “There were members in the Opposition who had some apprehensions that the BJP leadership may play some tricks to get the Constitutional Amendment Bill passed, but that didn’t happen, and the Opposition flock stuck together at such short notice despite elections at their peak in multiple states. Kharge ji conveyed his gratitude to all parties for putting up a united front,” sources said.

“The discussion also saw some leaders saying the parties need to remind people of the BJP’s anti-women stand on issues and talk about incidents like Hathras and Unnao gangrape case (UP), and other such incidents,” said another source from an INDIA bloc constituent.

Speaking to The Indian Express, the Congress’s whip in the Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore said, “We didn’t demand this session, these Bills. The government did it and now they have got a big jhatka (shock).”

The decision at Saturday morning’s meeting was that all parties will individually repeat the demand for the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Act, 2023, and “expose” the BJP for using women as a “shield” to pass the delimitation Bill.

The issue has already reached the poll battleground in Bengal and Tamil Nadu, with the Opposition parties targeting the BJP over it. In Bengal, TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said that “those who wanted to divide the country fell flat on their faces yesterday”, while Rahul Gandhi spoke about the BJP’s “deceit” at a rally in Tamil Nadu on Saturday.

On the other hand, Priyanka Gandhi took charge of the Congress’s onslaught on the BJP and addressed a press conference in Delhi, alleging that the BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, wanted to become “the messiah of women”. “It is not easy to become the messiah of women. We saw what happened to women in Hathras, what happened to our Olympic medallists, and others,” she told the press conference.

Asked if the Congress was preparing a programme on the ground to counter the BJP’s claims that the Opposition is “anti-women”, Priyanka said it will be discussed within the party.

The Opposition leaders acknowledged the need to manage the narrative on the issue, and said that all INDIA parties will internally discuss what has to be done. “It is our task to convince the people that the BJP government was being deceitful in calling this a women’s reservation Bill and not a delimitation Bill and that they wanted to change the electoral map of the country to suit them. We will continuously demand that the government should amend the Women’s Reservation Act of 2023 and implement it immediately and that we will support it unanimously,” said a Congress Working Committee (CWC) member.

Sources in the Congress said the party may hold a series of press conferences or public programmes in the coming days on the issue. “We have already told some of our top leaders to address the media, and make our point. But it may become a campaign for the entire nation. The specifics will be worked out soon. Let the BJP do whatever they want to for now,” sources said.