'We will not allow north-south divide': Amit Shah counters opposition on delimitation

NEW DELHI: Union home minister Amit Shah on Friday hit out at the opposition over its criticism of the women’s reservation bill and the proposed delimitation, accusing it of pushing a "north-south division narrative."Speaking in the Lok Sabha ahead of voting on the bill, Shah sought to rally support and asserted that delimitation would ensure fair and equal representation across states. “Let me make this clear once again: the southern states have exactly 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 Pradesh, Gujarat, and Bihar,” he said.Addressing concerns around a “north-south divide,” Shah cautioned against framing the issue in regional terms.“This country should not be divided through such narratives, neither a north-south narrative nor any other divisive framing. It should not be broken into pieces on such lines. What are they trying to imply? That members sitting in this House think about which state they come from while speaking or taking decisions?...When we take the oath, we do so with full sincerity and from the heart,” he said.He further accused critics of misusing constitutional discourse.“Those who have taken the constitutional oath in their hands are now trying to promote a North-South division narrative. We will not allow this to happen...” Shah said. Backing his argument with numbers, the home minister said the southern states would not lose representation after delimitation.“Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Keralam - the strength of these five states in the 543 parliamentary seats is currently 129, which is 23.76%. After a 50% increase, when we allocate the seats for these five states, it will rise from 129 to 195, which will represent 23.87% in 816 seats. No one will be at a loss,” he said.While in a strong counter to Centre's proposal on women reservation, the Samajwadi Party supremo Akhilesh Yadav said, "Based on nearly 11 years of experience, even if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were to give a written assurance that they would appoint a woman Prime Minister, we still would not trust them…”