Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav addresses during the Jan-Akrosh Mahila Padyatra protesting against Congress over the rejection of the women's reservation bill, in Bhopal on April 20, 2026
| Photo Credit: ANI
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress traded jibes in Madhya Pradesh on Monday (April 20, 2026) over the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill that was defeated in the Parliament last week.While the ruling party held a march — Jan Akrosh Mahila Padyatra — in Bhopal and accused the Congress of being “anti-women” and “stripping away the rights of women”, the Congress alleged that the BJP was making a “nefarious” attempt to misuse executive powers by linking delimitation and women’s reservation. Chief Minister Mohan Yadav took on Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and questioned her earlier campaign message that emphasised women’s empowerment.“The Congress party was celebrating in the Parliament. Priyanka Gandhi used to make grand claims in the past — declaring, ‘I am a woman; I can fight.’ But now, she has effectively strangled the rights of our sisters. The very history of the Congress has been anti-women. Rahul Gandhi made every possible effort to ensure that the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Vidheyak’ would not be passed,” he said. Mr. Yadav said the Congress will “pay the price for its actions”.“The manner in which the Bill was scuttled in the House makes it clear that they do not wish for our sisters to get their rights. However, our sisters will no longer remain silent. We will oppose the Congress party through democratic means — standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our sisters — from the streets all the way to the Parliament,” he said, addressing the crowd before starting the march from Bhopal’s MVM College ground. Congress leader and former national president of the party’s women’s wing Shobha Oza said that the Opposition had “foiled the Modi government’s plot to monopolise power through delimitation under the guise of women’s reservation”.“The Modi government’s reprehensible and nefarious attempt to misuse its executive powers by merging women’s reservation and delimitation into one structure and to alter the constitutional framework and take over all executive powers is (sic) a direct attack on democracy and the spirit of the Constitution,” she said, recalling that the Congress had voted in favour of the women’s reservation in 2023.“The Congress Party wishes to clarify here that the entire Opposition stands 100% united in support of women’s reservation. We supported the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in September 2023, and our demand remains clear today: women must receive their rightful share immediately. Reservation can be implemented within the existing 543 Lok Sabha seats starting today,” she added.The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill was part of the delimitation package that sought to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha to 816 as a prerequisite for women’s reservation in Parliament. It was defeated in the Lok Sabha on April 17, with 298 members voting in support of it and 230 against it. The Bill required a two-thirds majority. Published - April 20, 2026 09:48 pm IST
