‘PM Modi misleading nation, using women as shield’: Mamata’s sharp swipe over BJP’s delimitation push before polls
The Statesman | 19 April 2026
A political showdown over women’s reservation has intensified ahead of elections in Bengal, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launching a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and accusing him of misleading the nation over the delimitation issue.
Responding to the Prime Minister’s recent address, Banerjee said he failed to present facts honestly and instead created confusion over the delimitation exercise. In a statement posted on X, she asserted that her party, the Trinamool Congress, has consistently backed greater representation for women in Parliament.
Banerjee highlighted that women make up 37.9% of her party’s Lok Sabha members and 46% in the Rajya Sabha, insisting that there has never been any opposition from her side to women’s reservation.
She clarified that her objection is not to the reservation itself but to what she described as an attempt by the Centre to push delimitation alongside it. According to her, the move could alter political boundaries in a way that benefits BJP-ruled states while reducing the voice of others.
She said, “What we are fundamentally opposed to is the altering of Babasaheb Ambedkar’s Constitution, the division of this nation, and the usurpation of power through gerrymandering, by redrawing political contours to hand greater representation to BJP-ruled states at the expense of others.”
Calling it an attack on federal democracy, Banerjee said such steps could distort the balance envisioned in the Constitution drafted under BR Ambedkar. She accused the Centre of using women’s reservation as a cover for a larger political agenda.
The Chief Minister also questioned the timing of the move, asking why the government delayed action for nearly three years after the bill’s passage in September 2023 and then chose to push it when several states are heading into elections. She said, “If this government was genuinely serious about this noble cause, why did it wait nearly three years after the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill on September 28, 2023? Why rush it through when several states are in election? And why couple it with Delimitation? Trinamool Congress has stood for women for decades. We will continue to. But we will not be lectured on a subject that the ruling dispensation neither understands nor respects,” she said.
In a sharp remark, Banerjee dared the Prime Minister to address such issues in Parliament instead of speaking outside it, saying accountability and scrutiny are essential in a democracy. She alleged that the government’s approach reflects political desperation rather than genuine commitment to women’s empowerment.
The CM said, “And Mr. Prime Minister, the next time you address the nation, have the courage to do so from the Floor of Parliament, where you are subject to scrutiny, challenge and accountability. What you did yesterday was cowardly, hypocritical and fork-tongued. You can feel power slipping through your fingers. And you are prepared to go to any extent to hold on for just a little while longer. That is all this was.”