DMK opposed delimitation bill, not women's welfare, says Kanimozhi

TIRUCHY: By passing the delimitation bill linked with the women's reservation bill, the BJP conspired to alter the Constitution Law even without the consent of the Southern States and the opposition we fought and stopped the bill, said DMK Deputy General Secretary and MP Kanimozhi Kanunanidhi on Sunday.

Campaigning across the Delta region for the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) candidates, Kanimozhi noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been claiming that DMK and its allies blocked the passing of the women’s reservation bill in the parliament, and the AIADMK General Secretary and Leader of the Opposition, Edappadi K Palaniswami, put forth a similar stand. “This was a delimitation bill in the name of a women's reservation bill, and so we opposed it and succeeded in it," she stressed.

She pointed out that the DMK had been fighting for women’s reservation in the parliament from the times of late Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and the Chief Minister MK Stalin continued the fight. “DMK even organised a protest in Delhi for passing the women's bill, but the BJP failed to pay attention to our demands for the past 12 years. Now, they have tabled the delimitation bill linked with the women’s bill and shed crocodile tears for failure," he said.

Stating that the delimitation bill limits the representation of Tamil Nadu in the parliament based on the population proportion and Uttar Pradesh would get more seats, Kanimozhi said, with the total of 850 seats as per the proposed delimitation bill, the government needs support from only 540 representatives which they could achieve from the northern states like UP, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Haryana and they can pass any bill without the consent of southern states including Tamil Nadu.

“The BJP has planned to pass the delimitation bill to change the constitution law as per their will. DMK and its allies fought and blocked the delimitation bill, but not the women’s reservation bill," clarified Kanimozhi and appealed to the women not to trust the AIADMK and the BJP, whose aim is to create unnecessary confusion among the women by projecting DMK as an anti-women party.