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NEW DELHI: A triumphant opposition hailed the fall of the constitutional amendment bill as a defeat for delimitation, and not women’s reservation.After the opposition prevailed in voting, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi spoke with TMC heir apparent and MP Abhishek Banerjee and thanked him for the support. There was concern that only a few of the 28 TMC MPs may turn up in Parliament because of the election campaign in Bengal. But TMC sent 21 MPs after repeated requests from INDIA bloc leaders who impressed upon Mamata Banerjee that presence in debate and voting was important to thwart the Modi govt’s plan on delimitation. According to sources, Banerjee told Rahul, “The tide is turning against the BJP”.Akhilesh Yadav called it a defeat of BJP’s malice.RSP’s N K Premachandran said the bill’s failure to pass shows that BJP must consult with the opposition on important issues concerning the nation. “This defeat is not of women’s quota, but of delimitation by the backdoor,” he said.Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accused PM Narendra Modi of maliciously linking the women’s quota to delimitation based on 2011 Census. “But his hollow attempt to pose as messiah of women has failed today,” she remarked. Priyanka said if the three bills had passed in Parliament, democracy in India would not have survived.Rahul Gandhi said, “They used an unconstitutional trick in the name of women to break the Constitution.” Congress whip Manickam Tagore said, “We have defeated arrogance.”CPI MP Sandosh Kumar said the fall of the govt legislation shows that there is a strong opposition to any attempt to change the balance of representation in the country. He said the women of the country must see through the BJP’s approach of delaying women’s quota by linking it to census and delimitation. “This defeat is similar to what we saw during the farmers’ movement, when people’s unity forced the govt to repeal the farm laws.”DMK chief M K Stalin, who led the protests in Tamil Nadu, said his party’s concern was about delimitation, “which requires careful thought to ensure it is fair, especially for southern states”. He said the govt should have delinked women’s quota from delimitation.
