A three-day special sitting of Parliament drew to a close on Saturday amid furious pushback from the Opposition over delimitation. The ruling NDA failed to secure a two-thirds majority for the women’s reservation bill amid — sparking accusations that Congress and its allies were anti-women. Protests also broke out across the country on Saturday, with party supporters burning effigies of Rahul Gandhi and leading outreach programs. Against this backdrop, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor offered a brief glimpse of camaraderie across political parties as he spoke about ‘reasoning’ with Union Minister Kiren Rijiju about the Opposition stance.

Rijiju had insisted on Saturday morning that the Congress and the Opposition will have to face the anger of women across the country and accused them of permanently “damaging their credibility”.

“They will have to face the anger of the women of the country. This is a black stain on the Congress and its allies, one that they will never be able to erase. This Bill was about giving historic representation to women-what objection could there have been?” he told reporters in the Parliament House complex.

Women are the improved human models: Tharoor

Tharoor offered a counterpoint as he posted a post-adjournment photo of Opposition MPs posing with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on social media — reiterating their criticism of the contentious Bill.

A little post-adjournment gathering of Opposition MPs in the LokSabha with our charming Parliamentary Affairs Minister. When Kiren Rijiju explained why he and his party were calling the Opposition “mahila virodhi”, it was pointed out to him that no one could ever call me anti-women! He conceded the point,” the Thiruvananthapuram MP wrote on X.

Tharoor added that women were the “better half of the species” who deserved representation in every sphere. But he opined that the issue of delimitation required separate and detailed deliberation.

“They’re the improved models: Humans 2.0. They deserve representation in Parliament and in every institution. Just don’t link their advancement to a mischievous and potentially dangerous Delimitation that could devastate our democracy,” he added.

‘We’re not against women’: BJP-Opposition war of words

The delimitation bill has triggered a massive political row with BJP leaders accusing the Congress and other Opposition parties of ‘betraying women’. The accusations have prompted a sharp rebuttal — with critics calling for immediate implementation of the woman’s quota law passed in 2023 and accusing the government of playing politics over it. The Congress and its allies have also reminded that the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed unanimously with support from all parties over two years ago.

“We are not against women. We are ready to support women’s reservation even today. But we have opposed this. Why are you entangling the delimitation in this? Delimitation is a different matter and involves very serious questions that deserve a serious discussion. Implement women’s reservation immediately, separate it, do it in the current Parliament session, and the delimitation issue will be discussed after serious discussion,” Tharoor told ANI separately.