KOLKATA: “Don’t lecture me on women’s reservation,” Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday, adding that back in 1998 she had raised this issue in Parliament. She said PM Modi’s speeches were “full of lies” and that he was “forced” to address the nation because “their (BJP’s) fall began yesterday”. Banerjee pointed out that over 40% of her party’s MPs are women, highest in Parliament. Also, TMC has fielded the highest number of woman candidates (52) in the upcoming Bengal assembly polls, she said. Congress has fielded 35 women candidates, Left 34, and BJP 33. “BJP wanted to implement delimitation under the garb of women’s reservation amendment bill because Modi could not have won with the existing number of LS seats. That is why he wanted to increase the seat count to 850. This was his underlying game.” Pointing out that the women’s reservation bill had been pending for a long time, she asked, “What was the need to club delimitation with it? Do they think they are too clever?” On Modi’s “tukde-tukde gang” barb for TMC, she said, “Through delimitation, BJP wanted to divide the country. They are the real tukde-tukde gang.
