BJP weaponising 'Vande Mataram' to push polarisation agenda: Maharashtra Cong leader
Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra Congress on Friday accused the BJP of manufacturing an "unfortunate and needless" controversy over 'Vande Mataram' in Maharashtra.
The opposition party's spokesperson Sachin Sawant claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party was using the national song to target minority legislators and push its "polarisation agenda".
Sawant pointed out that BJP workers had held a 'Vande Mataram' singing event outside the offices of Congress MLAs Aslam Shaikh and Amin Patel earlier this week in a "clear attempt to intimidate and malign elected representatives from the minority community".
"The BJP is trying to create communal fault lines by weaponising Vande Mataram," Sawant claimed.
He said there was a state government's directive asking Mantralaya officials to answer phone calls with 'Vande Mataram'.
"This circular has nothing to do with administration and everything to do with theatrics. Governance has collapsed, so they are resorting to symbolic nationalism," Sawant alleged.
On November 24, the Rajya Sabha secretariat reminded members not to use slogans like 'Vande Mataram' and 'Jai Hind' inside or outside the House, citing it as a breach of parliamentary etiquette.
Referring to it, Sawant said the BJP was contradicting its own stance.
"At one place they use Vande Mataram to divide people, and in Parliament they impose restrictions on the same slogans. What explains this hypocrisy? Those who did not have the courage to utter Vande Mataram during British rule have now imposed curbs on the slogan inside the temple of democracy," Sawant asserted.
This is the height of BJP's double standards and hollow nationalism, he said and sought a response from the BJP's Maharashtra leadership.
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Time has come to implement Women's Reservation Act: PM Modi's letter to LS, RS floor leaders
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New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that the time has come for the implementation of the Women's Reservation Act in its true spirit and the 2029 Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections are conducted with the quota for women in place.
In a letter to the floor leaders of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, ahead of the three-day special sittings of Parliament, Modi also asked all members to come together in one voice to pass the amendments to the women's reservation law, officially known as Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.
"After extensive deliberations, we have reached the conclusion that the time has now come to implement the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in its true spirit across the country.
"It is imperative that the 2029 Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections are conducted with women's reservation in place," the Prime Minister said in his letter dated April 11.
The Budget Session of Parliament has been extended, and a special three-day sitting of the House has been convened on April 16 to 18.
The Women's Reservation Act will ensure an increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816, of which 273 will be reserved for women.
The provision to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies was brought by amending the Constitution in 2023.
However, the women's quota would have come into effect only after the completion of the delimitation exercise on the basis of the 2027 Census. This meant the reservation would not have become enforceable before 2034 if the present law remains as is.
To implement it from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, changes were needed in the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam; hence, the government is holding a special session to pass the amendments to the law.
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