Union Home Minister Amit Shah

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah On Friday he hit out at the opposition over its criticism of the Women’s Reservation Bill and the proposed delimitation, accusing it of pushing the “North-South divide narrative”.Speaking in the Lok Sabha ahead of voting on the bill, Shah sought to garner support and said delimitation would ensure fair and equal representation across states.“Let me make it clear once again: the Southern States have the same rights in this House as the Northern States. In fact, even a small Union Territory like Lakshadweep has the same rights as Uttar PradeshGujarat and Bihar,” he said.Addressing concerns about the “North-South divide”, Shah cautioned against framing the issue in regional terms.He said, “This country should not be divided through such narratives, not the North-South narrative and not any other divisive framework. It should not be broken into pieces like this. What are they trying to mean? When the members sitting in this House think about which state they come from when they speak or take decisions? … When we take the oath, we do so with complete sincerity and heart.”He further accused critics of misusing constitutional discourse.Shah said, “Those who have taken the constitutional oath are now trying to promote the narrative of North-South divide. We will not let this happen…”Backing his argument with numbers, the Home Minister said the southern states will not lose representation after delimitation.“Karnataka, Andhra PradeshTelangana, Tamil Nadu and Keralam – Out of 543 parliamentary seats, the strength of these five states is currently 129, which is 23.76%. After the 50% increase, when we allocate seats for these five states, it will increase from 129 to 195, representing 23.87% of the 816 seats. No one will be harmed,” he said.Taking a strong dig at the Centre’s proposal on women’s reservation, Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav said, “Based on the experience of almost 11 years, even if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gives a written assurance that they will appoint a woman Prime Minister, we will still not trust them…”