After suffering a major setback in the Parliament on April 17, the Prime Minister committed a gross violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by misusing the public broadcaster, Doordarshan, to deliver his so-called address to the nation. The violation has been committed as Assembly Elections are underway in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, and the MCC is still very much in force.

Introducing the Constitution Amendment Bill itself constituted a naked violation of the MCC, as the election process was still on. Apart from the BJP’s own political calculations, there was no reason to call for a Special Session of the Parliament. The bill and the two others which formed part of the parcel could have easily waited for 12 more days.

Anyhow, the PM’s address was nothing but a sorry face-saving attempt filled with mere rhetoric, in the face of the utter humiliation suffered in the Lok Sabha, when his Constitution Amendment Bill was defeated by opposition unity. It was a blatant ill-conceived political speech. He targeted and named opposition parties and sought to influence public opinion in favour of the ruling party. But the people of our country – especially the women – have seen through his mindless posturing!

Throughout his address, the PM kept referring to Indian women as mothers, sisters and daughters. It was as if he was unwilling to accept women as equal partners, in the society, economy and polity of this country. The refusal to make that acknowledgement was all the more evident in the fact that his government was not ready to ensure reservation for women in the Parliament and State Legislatures within the already existing number of seats. He clearly told Indian women that they can have their fair share in the country’s decision making only if the number of decision makers is increased. The PM’s admission sat neatly alongside a series of deeply troubling instances that expose systemic failures, political silence, and, at times, outright complicity, when it came to doing justice to women, under his own watch.

Bilkis Bano and Beyond

Take the case of Bilkis Bano, whose gang rape during the 2002 riots had become a symbol of both brutality and resilience. In 2022, the remission and release of her convicted rapists – followed by their public garlanding by BJP leaders – sent a chilling message about whose justice matters. The silence from Modi and his colleagues only deepened the wound. In Unnao, the rape survivor who accused a powerful BJP MLA faced intimidation, a suspicious road accident that killed her relatives, and a long struggle for justice. Similarly, the Kathua case – where an eight-year-old girl was brutally raped and murdered – saw political leaders from the BJP rally in defense of the accused. These were not just crimes; they were moments that tested the moral compass of our nation’s leaders and exposed its complete absence.

The murder of 18-year-old Ankita Bhandari in Uttarakhand highlighted another grim reality; links between perpetrators of violence against women and politically connected individuals. The slow and opaque handling of the case by the BJP government of the state raised serious concerns about whether justice bends under political pressure, as the accused belonged to families with BJP ties. Equally disturbing is the pattern of leniency shown by BJP governments to convicted godmen like Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh and Asaram Bapu. Their repeated paroles, despite serious convictions including rape, undermine faith in the justice system and raise valid questions about BJP’s political patronage to sexual criminals.

Women Workers and Voters

Closer to the capital, the treatment of protesting women – whether wrestlers demanding accountability or workers in the NCR seeking redressal of their grievances – reveals a state more willing to suppress women’s voices than protect their rights. The images of women being beaten up, dragged, detained, and silenced stand in stark contrast to official narratives of women’s empowerment. Concerns over a higher number of women voters being deleted from the electoral rolls in most states, subsequent to the SIR exercise point to a quiet and insidious disenfranchisement. When women are excluded from democratic participation, their safety and rights become even more precarious.

For almost three years, the BJP government has not been able to do justice to the women of Manipur. Rapes continue to take place there and the women’s helpline in the state is overloaded. The horrific accounts that had emerged from Manipur, including videos of women being paraded naked had shocked the nation. Yet, the delayed response and lack of immediate accountability have only reinforced the perception of indifference at the highest levels of governance in the country, when people’s real life issues do not align with BJP’s political priorities. All these point to a clear pattern; a governance framework where women’s safety is too often subordinated to political convenience, where outrage is selective, and where justice is inconsistent.

Women’s Reservation

The Left in general and the CPI(M) in particular, have always been at the forefront of the fight to ensure gender justice in the country. It was the Geeta Mukherjee Committee’s recommendations which provided the basis for one third women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies. We had championed the Constitution (108^th Amendment) Bill, 2010, which was adopted by the Rajya Sabha. What the BJP government should have done was to introduce that Bill in the Lok Sabha too.

However, the BJP has always been primarily interested in serving their own narrow political agenda. That is why they brought forth the Constitution (128^th Amendment) Bill in 2023. The opposition – including the Left – supported it in both houses, so that 33 per cent reservation could be ensured right away for women. Yet again, the BJP tied it to the upcoming census, which is now ongoing. Otherwise, in the 2024 General Elections itself, women would’ve got the opportunity to contest in seats reserved for them. Though the entire opposition demanded the same, why did the BJP not do it?

This time around they actually wanted to push through the delimitation exercise, and women’s reservation was only their political smokescreen! It was a diabolic move aimed at gerrymandering the Parliamentary constituencies to the unjustifiable advantage of the Sangh Parivar. They have already done this on a limited scale in Jammu & Kashmir and Assam. A freeze was put on delimitation based on the 1971 census because subsequent to that, the National Population Policy was announced, in 1976. After 5 decades, states whose population have grown faster than others are concerned that the concept of ‘one vote, one value’ is being thrown to the wind as their MPs and MLAs are having to represent a lot more people. Any delimitation exercise that does not address the genuine concerns of states that stand to lose on their current proportional representation in the Parliament – only because they took conscious efforts to sincerely implement population control measures – would be highly unjust.

Women’s reservation in the Parliament and the Legislative Assemblies can be, and should be, implemented right away, without any linkages to delimitation or census. Pretending to be more committed to women’s representation than others is a subterfuge. Chanting of ‘nari shakti vandan’ is meaningless rhetoric.