Haryana: Congress boycotts special session, Saini dubs it ‘anti-women’ mindset

The day-long special session, hurriedly convened a month after the budget session’s conclusion, was triggered by the Union government’s setbacks in the Lower House on April 17, when the united opposition defeated the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill 2026

The special Haryana assembly session convened by chief minister Nayab Singh Saini-led BJP government to corner the Congress on contentious women reservation issue lost steam even before the debate began on Monday as the principal opposition party decided to boycott proceedings, turning the much-anticipated political showdown into an anti-climax.

Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini during the special session at Haryana vidhan sabha in Chandigarh on Monday. (Keshav Singh/HT)

The day-long special session, hurriedly convened a month after the budget session’s conclusion, was triggered by the Union government’s setbacks in the Lower House on April 17, when the united opposition defeated the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill 2026.

Among three bills introduced in the Lok Sabha on April 16 were the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, and the Delimitation Bill, 2026, which sought to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha through delimitation based on the 2011 Census and to reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women, aiming for implementation in the 2029 election cycle. The contention of the BJP has been that the Congress blocked the women’s reservation-linked constitutional amendment.

Empty opposition benches, barring rebel Congress MLA

Much to the dismay of the ruling Haryana BJP benches, the opposition benches were conspicuously empty when the session began at 11 am, barring the presence of rebel Sikh MLA Jarnail Singh, who briefly attended the opening ceremony and left the House. Singh, the Ratia segment legislator, is one of the five Congress MLAs suspended for alleged cross-voting in the recent Rajya Sabha elections.

After the first listed business—obituary references—of the sitting was over, the reports began trickling in that the Congress was not going to attend the proceedings. Seizing the opportunity, cabinet minister Krishan Lal Panwar fired the first salvo.

“The empty Congress benches are a testament to how serious the Congress is about the issues concerning Haryana,” Panwar said, drawing the attention of assembly speaker Harvinder Kalyan towards empty opposition benches.

After the decision to convene the special session was taken last week, the government had been keeping the main agenda of the session under the wraps.

Thirty minutes after the session began, Saini cleared the haze and moved an official resolution, strongly backing the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, which seeks to provide 33% reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies. The resolution stated that even as the law passed in 2023 was scheduled for implementation in 2034, the Centre’s move to advance its rollout to 2029 through a special lower house session was blocked by the Congress-led opposition parties.

“No society can achieve true development without ensuring respect, equal opportunities and rights for women,” the resolution stated, terming ‘nari samman’ an essential part of India’s ethos and the foundation of the ‘Viksit Bharat-2047’ vision. The resolution traced the contributions of Haryana women—from astronaut Kalpana Chawla to women sportspersons—who have brought global recognition to the state and country.

“The campaign for women’s dignity and empowerment led by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in last 12 years has now culminated in the Nari Shakti Vandan Act...a special session of Parliament was convened on April 16 and 17...objective was to provide 33% reservation for women...but the Congress and its allies opposed the move..,” said Saini as he read the resolution in Hindi.

“This issue does not belong to any single political party...this official resolution is not political...it represents our collective commitment to women’s dignity and empowerment. Hence, all members of this House are requested to pass this resolution unanimously,” Saini said, after which the House began debate with the ruling BJP fielding women MLAs to air their views.

BJP creating roadblocks in implementing women reservation: INLD

The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MLA Arjun Chautala hit back at the BJP, saying that the BJP was creating roadblocks in implementing women reservation and blaming political opponents. “The reality is that the government is playing politics over women quota. By linking the women reservation to delimitation exercise, the government wanted to remotely control which seat should be reserved,” said Chautala, accusing the BJP of hatching a conspiracy to deny women reservation in contesting elections.

During the three-and-a-half hour debate, the rebel Congress MLA Singh again turned up in the assembly. Defying the Congress boycott, Singh not only attended the session but also backed the BJP government’s stand on the women’s reservation issue.

“I fail to understand why my party is opposing women’s reservation. Instead of holding a mock session outside the assembly, Congress leaders should have participated in the debate and presented their viewpoint inside the House,” he said and again left the House to come back later again.

Wrapping the debate, Saini said that during the Business Advisory Committee meeting, he had addressed Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s “doubt” by clearly saying that the government was not introducing a “ninda prastav” (censure motion).

Clarifying further the intent of the government’s resolution, Saini said that it was not political in nature and did not include the word “condemnation”. He said the resolution was dedicated to the dignity, rights, and empowerment of women.

“I wanted the Haryana Congress to not make the mistake that Congress made in the Lok Sabha. But Hooda ran away and now he is holding a duplicate session in the assembly’s parking area and belittling the House,” Saini said even as Congress held a mock session outside the assembly.

Criticising the opposition further, CM said Congress’ conduct reflected double standards and that it should be condemned. “The opposition should have participated in the discussion and if they wanted to protest, they should have done so after airing their views in the House,” he said.

Terming the day a black day in the state’s democratic history, Saini took another dig at the Congress, saying: “Janta ne jinhe behas ke liye bheja tha yahan, woh parking mein khade hokar parchhaiyon se lad rahe hain....Na qayda, na karvai, na adhyaksh ka samman, gaadiyon mein chal raha hai Congress ka Samvidhan.”

Finally, the motion criticising the Congress’ stand and underlining the importance of implementing 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies was adopted unanimously with a voice vote and in Congress’ absence.