The Congress has slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s proposal of increasing the Lok Sabha House seats, calling it a 'Weapon of Mass Distraction (WMD)'. Congress general secretary in charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, said that the PM continues to make 'misleading' statements, tricking the public.
"The PM is up to his usual tricks of making misleading statements that are meant to deceive. He says South Indian states will not be hurt in any way if the strength of the Lok Sabha is increased by 50 per cent and the number of seats of each state in the Lok Sabha is also increased by 50 per cent. This is hoodwinking the people of the country in which the PM has unique expertise," Ramesh said.
"For example, the difference between UP's and Kerala's seats in the Lok Sabha is now 60, and Modi's proposal will increase it to 90. Similarly, the difference between UP and Tamil Nadu will increase from 41 to at least 61, Ramesh said, and added that such examples can be multiplied," he added.
"Mr. Modi is bulldozing a proposal that will work more to the benefit of larger and populous states since their already large numbers will get further magnified," the Congress leader said.
It is not just South India but states like Punjab and Haryana and those in the North East, that will also see their relative influence decline, he argued, justifying his point.
"The nation is facing a serious economic and foreign policy crisis. All that the PM is bothered about is pushing through an increase in the strength of the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas without meaningful consultations and widespread public debate. This is nothing but a Weapon of Mass Distraction (WMD)," Ramesh said.
Agreeing with Ramesh, Congress MP Manish Tewari said, "The framing must be how much will Southern India, Western India, North Eastern India, and North Western India lose in terms of political heft as compared to the Hindi heartland states of India in terms of the gap in the number of Parliamentary seats between them and the Hindi heartland states."
The Chandigarh MP noted that states and UTs like Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Delhi together have just 40 seats in Lok Sabha, as opposed to Uttar Pradesh's 80, and said, "This gap will only further increase" post delimitation. Whatever @PMOIndia & @BJP4India is proposing that is yet unclear will further skew the Federal Balance to the detriment of the non-Hindi heartland states.”
His remarks come a day after Prime Minister Modi said that the Budget session of Parliament has been extended for three days so that the law enacted in 2023 for providing 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies can be implemented from 2029.
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