Chandigarh, Nov 14 — Congress MP Manish Tewari on Saturday criticised the Centre's reported plan to convene a special session of the Parliament, saying that delimitation should not be carried out under the pretext of implementing women's reservation.
Speaking to IANS, Tewari said that no special session had been officially convened so far and questioned the need to link women's reservation with delimitation.
"No session has been called yet. This is all very straightforward. You cannot do delimitation under the guise of women's reservation. The Women's Reservation Act was passed by Parliament three years ago. If you want to give reservation to women, you can reserve one-third of the 543 seats for women," he said.
The Congress leader said that a similar arrangement could be made in state Assemblies.
"In Vidhan Sabhas, give one-third of the seats to women. What's the problem? But in the name of women's reservation, they want to bring in delimitation. That's why they were unable to introduce this in the previous session," Tewari told IANS.
The remarks come amid reports that the Union government is considering convening a special session of Parliament to secure the passage of constitutional amendments linked to delimitation and the implementation of 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.
Meanwhile, commenting on the ongoing political debate surrounding Chhath Puja, Tewari described the festival as sacred and urged political parties not to politicise religious celebrations.
"Chhath Puja is a very pure and sacred festival, and people celebrate it with great devotion. Religious festivals should not be politicised. All these festivals should be celebrated with a spirit of devotion, dedication and humility," he said.
His remarks come amid a political controversy triggered by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, who on Thursday accused the BJP of attempting to create social and cultural tensions in Mumbai by turning Chhath Puja into a political issue.
Thackeray appealed to people not to fall into what he described as the BJP's trap and alleged that the party was attempting to create divisions between the Marathi and North Indian communities ahead of the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
In a post on X, he claimed that the BJP and its social media ecosystem were attempting to create discord in Maharashtra by circulating videos related to Chhath Puja and portraying the celebrations as cultural aggression.
He also referred to Bhojpuri songs being played at some railway stations in Mumbai and claimed that the MNS had intervened to stop the practice. Thackeray further alleged that the BJP was disappointed at not being able to generate the controversy it had anticipated and claimed that the entire exercise was linked to the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections.