Vijayawada, April 23: Union Minister of State for Steel and Heavy Industries Bhupatiraju Srinivasa Varma on Thursday launched a sharp attack on the Congress party and its allies for what he described as their duplicitous stance on the Women's Reservation Bill, asserting that the Modi government remained firmly committed to ensuring 33 per cent representation for women in legislative bodies by 2029.

Addressing a press conference organised under the banner of 'Jana Akrosh' in Vijayawada, along with NDA alliance leaders, the Minister said that the enactment of the 'Nari Shakti Vandanam' legislation stood as testimony to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's unwavering commitment to women's empowerment. He recalled that successive governments over the past three decades had reduced women's reservation to a mere electoral promise, whereas the Modi government, since 2014, had pursued the matter with sincerity and resolve.

Bhupatiraju said the credit for introducing and securing passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in 2023 belonged entirely to the NDA government under Modi's leadership. He alleged that when the amendment bill to implement the 33 per cent reservation from 2029 was placed before Parliament, the Congress and its allies obstructed it with various pretexts, defeating it by a margin of merely 54 votes. He described this as a betrayal of the aspirations of women across the country, and accused parties with patriarchal ideologies of conspiring to prevent women from advancing politically.

Dismissing opposition claims that southern States were being shortchanged, the Minister argued that it was precisely the failure to pass the amendment bill that was causing grave injustice to the southern States, and urged opposition parties to recognise this reality and extend their support. He explained that the Modi government was undertaking the delimitation process with the objective of implementing women's reservation by the 2029 elections, well ahead of 2034, and that a population-based reorganisation of constituencies would ensure equal opportunities for all regions and women alike. He noted that women currently constituted only 12.6 per cent of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, and stressed that reservations were indispensable to improve this figure.

TDP leader Gadde Anuradha, who also addressed the gathering, held the neglect of previous governments responsible for India's poor ranking in global indices of women's empowerment. Jana Sena leader Potireddy Sunitha said that genuine development was possible only when women entered decision-making roles, and affirmed that the alliance government in the State was committed to that goal.

Among those present were BJP State General Secretary Lakshmi Prasanna, Mahila Morcha President Nishidha Raju, and Media In-charge Kilari Dileep, among others.