A democratic model against anti-democracy
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The Opposition has saved the country from a bad fate, at least for the time being, by defeating the ill-intentioned move in an illicit manner of the Union government in the Lok Sabha. The 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill, introduced by the government under the pretext of providing 33 percent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies, failed for want of the required two-thirds majority. The purported objective of the constitutional amendment was to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha from the current 543 to 850, and to reserve 33 percent of it for women. However, there was a catch. When the Union government, which had unjustly postponed the census that was supposed to be held in 2021, conducts the delimitation of constituencies based on the 2011 population figures, the Lok Sabha seats in the BJP-dominated states will increase significantly and the representation of the opposition-dominated southern states will decrease considerably. The total number of Lok Sabha seats for states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, and Delhi are projected to increase from 207 to 366 while for Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Puducherry, the current 132 seats will only increase to 176. The current 24.3 per cent Lok Sabha representation of the southern states will drop to 20.7 per cent. The federal balance, which has already declined significantly due to government policies, will be completely disrupted. The southern states will be alienated.
The damage this will cause to the country will not be small. When the BJP's attempt to make the country a tool for the party's political gains failed, the country won. With the NDA government's goal not being achieved, the Prime Minister and others are blaming the opposition for the failure of women's reservation. The reality is the opposite. The opposition has made it clear that they are not opposing women's reservation, but the delimitation of constituencies as per the 2011 Census. The problem is the government's strategy of linking women's reservation with the delimitation of constituencies. Women's reservation is a cover for delimitation of constituencies to make political gains in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. The opposition would not have opposed the reservation if it had not been linked to the unacceptable delimitation and seat increase. Even in the consensus efforts made by the Speaker when it appearedthat the bill would fail, the opposition had made the same stand clear. The stand was that the reservation could be supported if the delimitation was completely separated from the women's reservation. However, the government rejected it. In other words, the opposition did not defeat women's reservation, but the constituency delimitation and the unscientific seat increase. The government defeated women's reservation by linking it to laws that were unacceptable to the opposition.
The failure of the bill did not just save the country from a dire situation. This first defeat faced by the Modi government was a resounding victory for the opposition's political unity based on political position. The government used democratic institutions as a tool to pave the way for its totalitarian agenda. It is worth remembering that German Nazism, Italian fascism, South African apartheid and Zionist racism all emerged through democracy. The first victory was that the opposition was able to see through what the Modi government was selling in the guise of women's welfare. The second achievement was that people from different political streams were able to come together for the good of the country. The Congress, Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, etc., united against the ill-motivated bill. The fact that all 20 members of the Trinamool Congress turned up for the Lok Sabha session despite their preoccupation with the Bengal elections is a testament to their commitment to the country. The country has now witnessed the success of practical politics that has the potential to block the Modi government's anti-democratic moves. This Lok Sabha victory also shows that identifying hidden agendas, planning successful measures against them, and implementing them with a single mind make the formula to save the country.
