Abhishek answered Rahul’s call, sent 21 MPs

E-PaperSubscribeSubscribeEnjoy unlimited accessSubscribe Now! Get features like New Delhi: On Friday morning, Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi dialled Trinamool’s Lok Sabha floor leader Abhishek Banerjee— who was busy in the election campaign in West Bengal. The result: Trinamool Congress, which had earlier confirmed the presence of ten MPs during the voting on the Constitutional amendment fast-tracking women’s reservation, sent 21 of its 28 lawmakers to the House. Abhishek answered Rahul’s call, sent 21 MPsThe Constitutional amendment was defeated 298-230 on Friday, although it had been clear since late Thursday that there was no way it could muster the requisite support. During his speech on Thursday, home minister Amit Shah promised that the increase in seats across states would happen by a uniform 50%, ensuring their proportionate representation in the Lok Sabha remained what it is currently, but the government made no effort to insert these numbers in either the Constitution amendment bill or the Delimitation Commission, 2026 bill. Indeed, his comments seemed at odds at with the content of the latter, which said that the allocation of seats across states would happen on the basis of the latest (2011 in this case) Census. He did offer to do this on Friday, just ahead of voting, but it was too late, and it wasn’t immediately clear whether his comment was just political polemics. Analysts and some politicians from opposition parties were concerned that ongoing election campaigns in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu -- after the Congress, the TMC, which governs Bengal, and the DMK, which governs Tamil Nadu, account for the most MPs in the Opposition camp -- would affect attendance during the critical session, to the advantage of the NDA. “After the Bill was defeated, Rahul Gandhi called Abhishek Banerjee to thank him for playing a crucial role in defeating this Bill.Banerjee and Gandhi spoke at length and discussed how if all MPs would have been there, the number would have crossed 250,” said a TMC functionary who asked not to be named. This person added that Banerjee also expressed the opinion that the vote showed that the “tide is turning against the BJP.”  Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav also came to the party , with a large number of lawmakers from his party. A senior Congress strategist involved in garnering numbers against the legislation told HT, “The government miscalculated on TMC and SP.” As Union home minister Amit Shah’s reply to the debate was coming to an end, Congress’ K Suresh was busy explaining to allies how to vote against the bill. An amused Speaker Om Birla quipped that Suresh didn’t need to teach people. At 8.03 PM, after the Constitution bill amendment was defeated due to lack of support of two-third majority, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “They used an unconstitutional trick in the name of women to break the Constitution. India has seen it. INDIA has stopped it. Hail the Constitution.” CPIM’s Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas said, “Their strategy seems to have failed. They thought they would be able to break the INDIA alliance’s unity but it didn’t happen.” The political victory of the alliance comes at a time when it has lost key members such as AAP and its principal constituent— the Congress— has suffered a series of defeats since 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The hard-earned unity also showcased the Opposition’s ability to come together even amid bitter electoral fights and campaigns targeting one another at state levels. When the discussions were going on in the Lok Sabha, Mamata Banerjee, who is fighting her toughest election against the BJP, tweeted, “I have never seen such a vindictive, anti-people, anti-democratic, divide and rule government. We support Women’s Reservation Bill. All India Trinamool Congress has 37% women MPs in LS. To attach delimitation with this is disrespecting mothers and sisters.” Yadav, who challenged Union home minister to commit to appoint a women as the PM, later said the amendment “was conspiratorially introduced to divert attention from the growing public opposition and outrage” and that it was “a defeat of the BJP.” “This is a victory for the awakened public consciousness of the country against the BJP. Today, the unity of INDIA has proven that the BJP has lost the basis to remain in government in a ‘moral form’. A government that loses in Parliament must go out,” he added. Saubhadra Chatterji is Deputy Political Editor at the Hindustan Times. He writes on both politics and policies.