Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday urged the Centre to immediately reintroduce and implement the 2023 Women’s Reservation Bill, a day after the Lok Sabha rejected the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026.Addressing a press conference alongside Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh, Priyanka termed the result a “victory of democracy, the Constitution and the country”. She said the Opposition had come together to defeat a “conspiracy to alter the federal structure through delimitation under the guise of women’s reservation”, and that the “ruling party’s discomfort was visible after the vote”.Describing the development as a “black day” for the NDA government, she said the outcome reflected both the Opposition’s unity and wider concerns over the intent behind the proposed framework. Referring to speeches by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah in Parliament, she said their remarks indicated that those opposing the Bill would be kept out of power. According to her, this pointed to a broader political objective of retaining control rather than building consensus.Priyanka alleged that the framework was primarily linked to delimitation based on the 2011 Census, and not reservation for women. She said this would allow constituencies to be redrawn without incorporating caste data, thereby reshaping political representation. She said the government appeared to have calculated that if the Bill passed, delimitation could be carried out in an arbitrary manner, and if it failed, the Opposition could be projected as being against women.“You cannot claim to represent women’s interests merely through speeches in Parliament,” she said, pointing to past incidents such as Unnao and Hathras, the handling of protesting women athletes, and the situation in Manipur to question the ruling party’s record on women’s issues.Maintaining that the Opposition was in favour of reservation for women, Priyanka said parties could not back a proposal that combined it with structural changes like delimitation. She reiterated that the Opposition was ready to support the 2023 Bill if it was brought back in its original form and implemented within the existing strength of Parliament.She described the government’s defeat as a “shock” that should prompt reflection, adding that public awareness had increased and that messaging and media management alone were no longer decisive. She also said there were domestic and international pressures on the government, including concerns over rising prices, which had contributed to the timing of the move.Responding to allegations that the Opposition opposed women’s reservation, she said the charge did not hold, noting that parties had consistently supported immediate implementation without linking it to delimitation. She pointed out that the defeat marked the first such setback for the government in Parliament in over a decade.On Opposition unity, she said while parties may contest elections against each other in states, they came together on issues concerning national interest and constitutional principles, as seen in the Lok Sabha vote.Priyanka further alleged that there were attempts at a wider restructuring of Parliament, citing delimitation exercises in Jammu and Kashmir and Assam as examples that had raised concerns about fairness. She questioned how such measures could be trusted without broader confidence.She concluded by saying the Centre should bring back a clear and standalone Bill on women’s reservation and implement it immediately, stating that any attempt to link it with wider political changes would continue to face resistance.Jairam said the Congress had criticised this “sly move” by the Modi government to link delimitation and women’s reservation in its Nyay Patra for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and had promised to implement women’s reservation immediately. “Our stand has always remained consistent—in September 2023, in June 2024 and now even in April 2026. On the other hand, the Modi government has repeatedly flip-flopped on its position, with the only consistent thread across these changing circumstances being indifference toward women’s representation and an attempt to impose sweeping and deceitful changes in our democratic system in the name of women,” said Ramesh.