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‘Why such haste like demonetisation’: Tharoor says delimitation not needed for women quota
Home minister Amit Shah said there would be a flat 50% increase, meaning states' proportionate share would stay the same. Tharoor asked where it's written down.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said in the Lok Sabha on Friday that delimitation, or redrawing of constituencies, has been proposed by the government in haste, “the same haste that you showed on demonetisation”.
“And unfortunately, we all know what damage that (demonetisation) did to the country. Delimitation will turn out to be political demonetisation,” said the Kerala MP, referring to the demonetisation of high-denomination notes by PM Narendra Modi's government in November 2016.
“Don't do it,” Tharoor said.
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Also read | What's the G-word at heart of delimitation fear? Gerrymandering, explained in the Indian context
He also pointed out that the laws being proposed simply speak of census-based reallocation of seats. That would mean the southern states like Kerala could have a lower share of seats as they have controlled their population, while Hindi-belt states like UP and Bihar gain even more seats and larger proportion of Parliament.
Union home minister Amit Shah has said there would be a flat 50% increase, meaning proportionate share would stay the same. Tharoor asked where it is written down.
What law says vs Shah's claim
“I want to say the 50% formula that suddenly the home minister came and presented to us yesterday, regarding the delimitation exercise, promising that no state will lose its current number of seats and total House strength will increase by 50% — this remains a precarious political assurance and not a legislative certainty,” he said.
“Because the pledge is fundamentally contradicted by the existing text of the legislation itself, which gives total freedom to the Delimitation Commission appointed by the government, whose decisions cannot be challenged in a court of law,” he underlined.
“Since this formula (promised by Amit Shah) is not codified as an immutable constitutional or legislative safeguard, it could be easily discarded or altered by a simple parliamentary majority, offering no guarantee that it will survive beyond the very short term,” he argued.
Tharoor also spoke against the very idea of increasing seats anyhow.
'Don't need increase'
“[That] would create the legislature that is by far the largest in any democracy in the world, resulting in a body that will be unwieldy and unworkable. This is especially true in an era where the government has been systematically reducing the duration of parliament sittings,” he stressed.
“Whereas the first and second Lok Sabhas met for an average of 125 days a year, the 16th and 17th Lok Sabhas saw that figure plummet to just below 60 days,” Tharoor said.
“In such a constrained schedule, what will your job be, sir?” he asked the Lok Sabha speaker, Om Birla. “An 850-member chamber would require at least a doubling of the time currently allotted to Question Hour, Zero Hour, for a majority of MPs,” Tharoor further argued.
A day earlier, Tharoor had lashed out at the Modi government for linking women's reservation with delimitation, saying the Opposition will not allow “political demonetisation”.
'Delink quota and total seat numbers'
Speaking with reporters outside the Parliament House complex on Thursday, the MP from Thiruvananthapuram and a former minister said, “We don't have any problem with women's reservation, they (the government) can do it immediately, but why delimitation is being included, this is our question. Because there are many issues related to delimitation, a long discussion is required, but they want to wind up in 2-3 days; this is not possible.”
“If the government wants women's reservation, they could have done it in 2023,” he added, pointing out that the quota was already okayed three years ago with all-party support.
"They should do it now, we will support — no delimitation, just women's reservation bill," Tharoor said.
"The manner in which you are doing delimitation -- the way you did demonetisation without thinking. We don't want this political demonetisation. There should be a big debate; what should be the formula, only population cannot be the basis. Speak with south, northeast, small states," Tharoor said.
"A detailed discussion is required on delimitation but right now, there should be immediate implementation of women's reservation. We will support it immediately," he said.
The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to tweak the women's-quota law was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday after a division of votes. Two ordinary bills — the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill to implement the proposed amended women's-quota law in the Union territories of Delhi, Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir — were also introduced in the House.
