By Agartala Correspondent | Tripura 24.in AGARTALA | May 3, 2026
AGARTALA: Following the recent heated debate in the State Assembly, Tripura Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Ashish Kumar Saha held a press conference at the Congress Bhavan today to clarify the party’s stance on the Women’s Reservation Bill. Accompanied by senior leaders, Saha accused the ruling government of using the bill as a political tool while intentionally creating “technical hurdles” that delay its actual implementation.
The press conference comes a day after the Tripura Legislative Assembly passed a motion in support of the 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill, a move the Congress claims is “hollow” without a clear timeline.
“Decouple Reservation from Delimitation”: Congress
Addressing the media, Ashish Kumar Saha emphasized that while the Congress party pioneered the idea of 33% reservation for women, the current version of the bill is designed to fail or be delayed indefinitely.
Key Points Raised by the TPCC President:
- The Delimitation Trap: Saha argued that by linking the implementation of women’s reservation to a fresh Census and Delimitation exercise, the government is pushing the actual benefits as far back as 2034.
- Lack of Sincerity: “If the government was sincere, they would implement the quota in the upcoming elections using the current 543 seats,” Saha stated. He termed the proposed expansion of the Lok Sabha to 850 seats as a “diversionary tactic.”
- The 2026 ‘Bridge’ Bill: He noted that the defeat of the “bridge” legislation in the Lok Sabha last month proves that the current approach is structurally flawed and lacks consensus.
Echoing the Assembly Debate
The TPCC President’s statements mirrored the arguments made by MLA Sudipto Roy Barman during the special assembly session on Friday. The Congress leadership reiterated that the BJP is trying to take credit for a concept first introduced by the UPA government while adding “conditionalities” that make it unactionable for the present generation of women leaders.
”The BJP’s ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Act’ is more about ‘Vandan’ (worship) in posters and less about ‘Shakti’ (power) in the Parliament. We demand an immediate rollout of the 33% quota without waiting for a census that hasn’t even begun,” Saha added.
Organizational Strategy
Beyond the bill, the TPCC President also touched upon the party’s internal focus for 2026. He announced that the Congress would be forming “Bundle Committees” across all booths in Tripura, ensuring that at least one-third of the committee members are women, demonstrating the party’s commitment to “representation in practice rather than just on paper.”
The conference concluded with a call to the women of Tripura to recognize the difference between “tokenism and true empowerment.” Other prominent leaders present at the Congress Bhavan included district presidents and representatives from the Mahila Congress, who pledged to take this message to the grassroots level through a series of rallies across the state.
