Women have proven to be a major vote bank for the BJP. They have played a significant role in BJP’s victories. This is why the BJP runs several programs exclusively for women, such as the Ladli Behena Yojana and the Ujjwala Gas Scheme. Following these initiatives to garner women’s votes in the 2029 general elections, the BJP and NDA strategists, PM Modi and Amit Shah, are now working to get the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, a scheme empowering women to participate in power, passed by Parliament and enacted into law.
PM Modi and Amit Shah introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to enact the Nari Shakti Vandan Act during the Budget Session. However, due to the rock-solid unity of opposition political parties, the Nari Shakti Vandan Act was defeated by 54 votes.
Despite the Nari Shakti Vandan Act failing to pass during the Budget Session, the duo of PM Modi and Amit Shah did not give up. The day after the Nari Shakti Bandhan Act failed to pass in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated at a rally in Tamil Nadu that he would ensure women’s participation in power and would not rest until it was passed.
In addition to securing a majority in the West Bengal elections, PM Modi and Amit Shah intensified their strategy to secure the support of more MPs to ensure women’s participation in power, so that they could secure the passage of the Nari Shakti Bandhan Act and the Delimitation Act in Parliament during the monsoon session. To achieve this, they first initiated a crackdown within the TMC, instigating 20 of its rebel MPs to join the Nationalist Citizens Party (NCP), thus becoming a supporter of the NDA. They then instigated the revolt of 6 Shiv Sena (United Front) MPs by incorporating them into the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, thus becoming a supporter of the NDA.
Even after sabotaging the TMC and Shiv Sena’s UBT, the BJP will still fall short of the 360 Lok Sabha and 162 Rajya Sabha MPs needed to pass the Nari Shakti Vandan Act and the Delimitation Act, falling short by 48 in the Lok Sabha and 10 in the Rajya Sabha. To ensure the passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Act and the Delimitation Act, the duo of PM Modi and Amit Shah are currently focusing on lobbying in Maharashtra. This time, the target in Maharashtra is the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, which has eight MPs in the Lok Sabha and one in the Rajya Sabha.
In this regard, the NCP was on the verge of merging with Sharad Pawar’s BJP, but Sharad Pawar’s daughter and NCP leader Supriya Sule put a spanner in the works. Supriya Sule essentially put a halt to the merger, but she offered to support PM Modi and Amit Shah’s policies regarding the Nari Shakti Vandan Act and the Delimitation Act, with one condition. She stated that if the number of MPs in states across the country is increased by 50%, she will support the BJP’s bill in Parliament. She also spoke about persuading DMK to vote in favor of the NDA on this issue, and threatened to distance herself from the NDA if she did not.
The BJP also clearly told Supriya Sule that now that she has come so close to the BJP, she will have to choose between this side and that side. There is no question of going that side, because most of the NCP and Sharad Pawar MPs and MLAs are ready to support the BJP, and if she refuses, the NCP and Sharad Pawar will be dealt with just like the TMC and Shiv Sena. “You will be left alone, and all the MPs and MLAs will come to me,” she said. Additionally, he also hinted at the actions of the ED, CBI, and Income Tax Department, and implied that Congress is a sinking boat, and that if they ride in it, AAP will sink along with it. Although Supriya Sule remained silent on the matter after this, it seems that given the enthusiasm of her party’s MPs and MLAs for a merger with the BJP, she too will have to agree to it after facing defeat.
Despite Sharad Pawar’s merger with the BJP, the NCP will not have the required number of MPs to pass the Nari Shakti Vandan Act and the Delimitation Act in Parliament. To this end, the duo of PM Modi and Narendra Shah are also in talks with DMK leader MK Stalin. The DMK has 22 Lok Sabha and 10 Rajya Sabha MPs. The DMK has previously demanded an increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats in all states by 50% of the current strength, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had previously agreed to do so. In such a situation, if the BJP, along with Sharad Pawar and the DMK, supports the NDA on the potential delimitation bill proposed by the BJP in the monsoon session of Parliament, then it will not only have an absolute majority in the Rajya Sabha, but the BJP will also lose two or four seats in the Lok Sabha, which the BJP will easily manage through floor management. It will be interesting to see whether the BJP can succeed in passing the Nari Shakti Vandan Act and the Delimitation Act into law during the monsoon session.