Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao placed under house arrest ahead of protest over Women's Reservation Bill

HYDERABAD: Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao was placed under house arrest by police in Hyderabad on Saturday after the party called for a protest outside chief minister A. Revanth Reddy’s residence over the Congress party’s stand on the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament.Sources said the protest was planned to oppose the alleged lack of support by the Indian National Congress for the Bill during parliamentary proceedings.Condemning the police action, Rao criticised his house arrest, calling it an attempt to stifle a democratic protest.Earlier, leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the BJP’s youth wing, staged a protest in Hyderabad on Friday evening, during which they burned an effigy of Rahul Gandhi and targeted the Congress party over its stance on the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament.The development comes after the BJP and its National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners on Friday announced a massive nationwide protest campaign against the opposition. According to top party sources, the BJP directed its state units to organise coordinated demonstrations at all district headquarters across India. The campaign aims to "expose" the opposition's role in stalling a historic leap for gender equality.The protests are aimed at mobilising public opinion in favour of the bill and highlighting the government’s commitment to increasing women’s representation in legislative bodies.The NDA has announced a nationwide protest campaign against opposition parties starting today, directing all member parties to mobilise support through social media, street demonstrations and other outreach efforts.The move follows the BJP-led government’s failure to secure the required two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha to pass the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026. The bill received 298 votes in favour and 230 against, falling short of the constitutional threshold, as announced by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.The proposed legislation was part of a broader package of three bills — including the Delimitation Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill — aimed at implementing the Women’s Reservation framework from the 2029 general elections.Opposition parties, however, objected to linking the reservation with delimitation and census exercises, arguing that the women’s quota should be implemented immediately.(With agency inputs)