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Rahul Gandhi hits back after Kiren Rijiju’s ‘Change Of Heart’ swipe over women’s quota

hellohimachalse@gmail.com 08 Aug 2026 48 min ago

New Delhi: A fresh political exchange over women’s reservation broke out on Saturday after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi over the Congress leader’s recent remarks on women’s freedom and empowerment.

Rijiju described Gandhi’s message as a “positive message” and suggested there had been a “visible change of heart” in his position on women. He then urged the Congress to support the Women’s Reservation Bill “unconditionally”.

“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 posted on X.

Gandhi responded within hours, saying the Congress had already backed the Women’s Reservation Bill when it was passed in 2023. He questioned why the government was linking its implementation with delimitation.

“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 said in his post.

“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?” he added. Gandhi ended his message with a direct demand: “Implement the 2023 law. Without any conditions.”

What is behind dispute?

The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, passed by both Houses in 2023, provides for 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies. Its implementation has remained tied to the delimitation process, which has become a major point of disagreement between the government and the Opposition.

The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which sought to operationalise the quota alongside changes linked to delimitation, failed to secure the required two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha on April 17.

Congress and other Opposition parties have since demanded that the women’s quota be implemented without waiting for a new delimitation exercise.

Gandhi’s message on women

The latest exchange began after Gandhi posted a video on women’s empowerment. He said the “energy of India’s women is trapped” and argued that women must have greater freedom to express themselves in their homes, workplaces and public life.

Gandhi also said India could not fully develop without women being able to express themselves freely, calling for greater freedom from patriarchy and rigid social control.

Rijiju’s response to those remarks has now opened another round of political sparring over a women’s quota that both sides say they support but disagree on how and when it should be implemented.

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