The exchange began after Kiren Rijiju responded to a video posted by Rahul Gandhi, in which the Congress MP is seen answering a question about young women. Congress MP and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday sparred over the Women’s Reservation Bill on X.Kiren Rijiju reshared Rahul Gandhi's video and remarked that it seems the Congress MP had finally had a change of heart. (ANI/PTI Photos)The exchange began after Rijiju responded to a video posted by Rahul, in which the Congress MP is seen answering a question about young women in India during an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session.“The energy of India's women is trapped. It is not allowed to express itself. It is not allowed to imagine. For me, no country can be successful if its women are not expressing themselves. And I think a lot of my politics, and a lot of what politics should be in this country, is about making people understand that our country is stunted and incomplete without the expression of women,” Rahul said.Rijiju reposted the video on X and remarked that it seems the Congress MP had finally had a change of heart over the women's quota bill. The parliamentary affairs minister described Rahul's message as “positive” and said he hoped the Congress would support the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Parliament.“This seems to be a positive message from the Congress Party. There's a visible change of heart in Shri Rahul Gandhi Ji about the Women. Now, I hope Congress Party will support the Women's Reservation Bill unconditionally,” Rijiju wrote on X.Following Rijiju’s remark, Rahul reiterated that the bill had already been passed in 2023 with the full support of the Congress and questioned why it had not been implemented even after three years.On the BJP’s attempt to link the bill to delimitation, Rahul questioned why the two issues were being “unnecessarily” linked.“Mr. Rijiju, who would know better than you, as the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs—that the Women's Reservation Bill 2023 has already been passed unanimously, with the full support of the Congress,” Gandhi replied.“The question is, why has it still not been implemented even after three years, and why do you now want to unnecessarily link it to delimitation? Implement the 2023 law. Without any conditions,” he added.Taking to X, Rijiju continued the interaction and listed six points.He explained that the women’s reservation law, passed through the Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023, will come into effect only after a delimitation exercise based on census figures published after 2026.He added that the ongoing census exercise, including the caste-based census, could take considerable time, potentially delaying the implementation of women’s reservation until the 2034 general elections.Rijiju argued that to ensure the reservation is implemented in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, delimitation would need to be undertaken at the earliest based on the latest available census figures. He also said the proposed implementation mechanism was included in the Delimitation Bill, 2026, along with amendments to the Constitution.Women quota’s and DelimitationThe Women’s Reservation Bill, or the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, was passed by both Houses of Parliament in 2023.The BJP earlier this year introduced the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, which proposed raising the constitutional ceiling on Lok Sabha seats from 550 to 850 and delinking the implementation of the 2023 women’s reservation law from the next census.The bill was defeated in the Lok Sabha, marking the first defeat for the BJP in 12 years.Rijiju’s outreach to GandhiAs part of continued efforts to break the logjam, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju reached out to Gandhi on Thursday.According to people aware of the details, during the telephonic conversation between the two, Gandhi is learnt to have said that there should be an all-party meeting to discuss the issue further, which Rijiju did not agree to, HT earlier reported.On Wednesday, Rijiju met Gandhi at the latter’s office for more than 40 minutes to discuss the delimitation bill and ways to end the logjam.Rijiju for his part said, “I had a productive conversation with Rahul Gandhi. We made a request regarding a specific matter and also discussed other issues. We desire continuous communication and coordinated action with the Congress and other opposition parties. We may be political opponents, but we are not enemies; therefore, we should work together in the national interest. However, the impression created outside is that they are determined not to let Parliament function at all, but who ultimately suffers from that?”The outreach comes against the backdrop of the constitutional requirement of a two-thirds majority in Parliament for amendments of this nature. The bill failed to secure the required support in the Lok Sabha earlier this year and therefore did not proceed to the Rajya Sabha.Karishma Ayaldasani is a Senior Content Producer at Hindustan Times, based in New Delhi, where she works with the digital team on fast-moving breaking stories from India and around the world.