Shashi Tharoor: Senior Indian National Congress (INC) leader Shashi Tharoor politely refuted the claims by Kiren Rijiju, the Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs of India.
Statement By Shashi Tharoor
In a post on X, Shashi Tharoor remarked that the Indian National Congress has always stood for the rights and reservations for women under a strong woman President in Sonia Gandhi. Tharoor went on to add that it was the INC that initiated the Women’s Reservation Bill and passed it in the Rajya Sabha during its tenure while also supporting it in the Lok Sabha when it was brought by the Government of India in 2023.
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The Thiruvananthapuram MP also remarked that the Indian National Congress is completely in favour of women’s reservation in the country if it happens without linking it to delimitation.
Claims By Kiren Rijiju
Kiren Rijiju had claimed that Tharoor “in a way admitted” that the Congress Party is anti-women. Rijiju cited a private conversation between him and the Thiruvananthapuram Member of Parliament (MP) after the recent Parliament session that discussed the Women’s Reservation Bill 2026.
The bill failed to pass on April 17, 2026, in the Lok Sabha; it was aimed at increasing the count of Lok Sabha seats to 85 and delinking the quota from the post-2026 census.
Kiren Rijiju had claimed that the core issue behind the Women’s Reservation Bill 2026 was not whether women oppose or suppose us but the provision of 33 percent reservation for women in state and Lok Sabha assemblies.
Rijiju also remarked that the nation was shocked and surprised that national parties like Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress and the Indian National Congress didn’t supported the Women’s Reservation Bill 2026. Rijiju added that the provision was already part of the 2023 Act that was approved in the Lok Sabha and it does not make any sense to oppose it now.
