The BRICS TimesCongress MP Shashi Tharoor has strongly pushed back against Union Minister Kiren Rijiju’s claim that he agreed Congress was anti-women. Tharoor says a photograph with seven witnesses proves he never said or implied anything of the sort and the political war of words is only heating up.
Tharoor Calls Out Rijiju Over Twisted Interpretation
A sharp political spat erupted on Tuesday between Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and Union Minister Kiren Rijiju over words exchanged in a quiet corridor after a Parliament session. Rijiju had gone public with a claim that Tharoor more or less accepted that the Congress party is “anti-women.” Tharoor was having none of it. He took to X and pushed back hard, saying “I am sorry, but with the greatest respect for Kiren Rijiju, at no point did I say or imply any such thing and I have seven witnesses in the photograph who can confirm that.” That one sentence set the tone for the day’s political discourse.
Also Read: Kiren Rijiju Says Shashi Tharoor Quietly Admitted Congress Is Anti-Women
The Conversation That Started It All
The row traces back to a relaxed post-session gathering of opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha one of those informal moments that often go unnoticed. Rijiju, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, was present. He had been explaining why the BJP was labelling the opposition as “mahila virodhi” or anti-women. Tharoor says that at this gathering, it was pointed out that nobody could ever call him personally anti-women. According to Tharoor, Rijiju even agreed with that. “Let’s face it, women are by far the better half of the species. They’re the improved models: Humans 2.0. They deserve representation in Parliament and in every institution,” Tharoor wrote.
Rijiju’s Version And Why Tharoor Says It’s Wrong
Rijiju, however, told a different story. He claimed that Tharoor had told him, after the session, that Congress might be seen as anti-women but no woman would personally view Tharoor that way. Rijiju then said he agreed on the personal front but stood firm on calling the party anti-women. He argued that Tharoor had, in effect, accepted this point. Tharoor rejected this framing completely. ” ‘That was what he meant’, our Minister says. No, sir, that is NOT what I meant,” Tharoor wrote sharply. He added ” ‘That Congress can be anti-women… he agreed in a way,’ he added. I am sorry but I did NOT agree in any way.”
Women’s Reservation Bill : The Bigger Flashpoint
This exchange did not happen in a vacuum. It comes in the wake of a bruising battle in Parliament over women’s reservation. During the special session held between April 16 and 18, the government brought in the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill a proposed law that would have set the stage for implementation of 33% reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The bill required a two-thirds majority to pass as a constitutional amendment. It did not get there falling short after winning 298 votes against the needed 528.
Opposition’s Stand and BJP’s Counter-Attack
The opposition including Congress voted against the bill. Their objection was not to women’s reservation itself but to the condition tied to it. Linking reservation to a fresh delimitation exercise, which involves redrawing constituency boundaries and expanding Lok Sabha seats from 550 to 850, was seen as a delay tactic. Opposition parties argued this could take years and disadvantage states particularly in the south that have managed their population growth better. Rijiju dismissed these concerns and accused Congress of blocking women’s rights after failing to act during the roughly six decades it held power at the Centre. He also targeted Congress over the Shah Bano judgment reversal, calling it a historic injustice to women.
Tharoor Draws His Own Line
Tharoor, for his part, made his position crystal clear. He supports women getting greater representation in Parliament without question. What he does not support is tying that advancement to a delimitation process he considers “mischievous and potentially dangerous.” He warned that such a move could “devastate our democracy.” He also pointed to the Congress party’s own track record on women’s rights and reiterated that the personal attack on him was based on a misreading deliberate or otherwise of what he actually said. With seven people in a photograph ready to back him up, Tharoor seems confident his version will hold.
