CHANDIGARH- Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring today said that the proposed “delimitation” of parliamentary and assembly constituencies was the BJP’s hidden attack on the states like Punjab which had rejected the party time and again.
He said it will lead to political discrimination and further weaken and undermine the federal structure of the country which is already under attack from the BJP.
The PCC president warned that the Congress will launch a mass mobilization drive across the state against delimitation, as its ultimate aim is not to empower, but weaken the states like Punjab which have not accepted the saffron party.
At the same time, Warring dared the ruling Aam Aadmi Party to call a special session of the Punjab assembly and pass a resolution against delimitation to register strong and powerful dissent against the move.
He expressed doubts about the AAP government doing that since it (the AAP) has always played a second fiddle to the BJP.
He pointed out that the states that will be at a disadvantage include Punjab, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, which have always rejected the BJP and those which will get a massive advantage include Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh. “Does that leave any doubt about the actual aim and purpose of the delimitation?” he asked.
Warring noted that the BJP government, knowing well that it cannot bulldoze this law on its own in the parliament, has used the Women Reservation Bill as a camouflage for this purpose. “The government is trying to bring the law through the backdoor which the Congress will not let it do”, he warned, while pointing out, “the Women Reservation Bill has already been passed in the parliament way back in September 2023”.
He said, “Women’s reservation is not a favour, it’s their right. From Smt. Sonia Gandhi’s vision to today, Congress has always stood firmly for women’s political empowerment”.
“Implementation must be sincere, not symbolic”, he remarked.