Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji,You had stated in your address to the nation on the women’s reservation issue that “the fight to give women power participation has been going on for decades…so many women have raised this subject before me. So many sisters have written letters to me explaining everything.” Modi ji, Here is another letter to you, from one who has been an active participant in the “decades long fight” you mention. That historic fight was led by women’s organisations, it was led by lakhs of women in the panchayats who fought patriarchal cultures to establish that they were not “proxies”, it was through thousands and thousands of demonstrations, rallies, protests, dharnas, petitions. You also said, “I too have been among those making efforts for it”. No Modi ji, in all these years of struggle we have never ever received any support from you. Your claim is as distant from the truth as Godse’s ideology was from Gandhi’s.Let’s sift facts from propaganda Modi ji. But before that – in reference to your statement of “sharing the sorrow” of women and your pledge, “I assure every woman of the country: we will remove every obstacle in the path of women’s reservation,” here is a concrete suggestion which will remove your sorrow and every obstacle. Delete the major obstacle which was erected in the 106th constitutional amendment moved by your government in 2023. This links women’s reservation to the census and delimitation. Delete this sentence, Modi ji, and women’s reservations can be implemented from tomorrow. But you won’t do this, Modi ji. Your commitment was never to women’s reservation. You were elected as prime minister in 2014. Your party had promised one third reservations for women in its election manifesto. The alliance you led won 336 seats, of which your own party won 282 seats. What were the “efforts” you made? Tell the women of India why you did not pass the women’s Bill in your first term. Not just that Modi ji, you refused to even list the Bill in the government agenda. In the Monsoon Session of 2017, the then Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Sitaram Yechury as a member of the Rajya Sabha had demanded the listing of the Women’s Reservation Bill as part of the business agenda. Why did you refuse? In July 2018, P.K. Sreemathy, the CPI(M) MP in the Lok Sabha who is now the president of the All India Democratic Women’s Association had raised the issue. There was an urgency as only one year was left before the elections scheduled for 2019. She was supported by several parties but your government ignored her plea. Women MPs of several opposition parties staged a dharna inside parliament demanding the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill. Outside parliament, women were out on the streets in demonstrations, demanding the Bill be listed and passed. You did nothing. Why Modi ji? As a result, women were deprived of one-third reservations in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. This was your first betrayal on this issue. In 2019 you won with an even bigger majority, with your party getting 303 of the 353 seats won by your alliance. This was a massive majority. How did you use it? Your priority was to help business. You brought the four anti-worker labour codes, you used your majority to push through three anti-farmer bills. Why did you not use your majority to bring the Women’s Reservation Bill? Why did you wait till almost the last session of your term to bring a flawed version of the Women’s Reservation Bill, leaving no time to refer it to a parliamentary committee? It was only in September 2023, that you presented a Bill named Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (NSVA). I will later in this letter come back to your choice of the title. Many said that your government brought this Bill to escape criticism during the forthcoming 2024 elections that you had reneged from your promise the second time. But the agenda was far worse. The NVSA introduced Section 334a as a constitutional amendment which stated that women’s reservations would be implemented only after the census and delimitation were completed. Women’s organisations strongly protested against this linkage. We argued that women’s reservations were not at all linked to the census or delimitation, that women would be denied the right to reservations in the 2024 elections, and thirdly, that there was no guarantee when the process would be completed. Opposition parties in parliament raised many of these issues. You and the Union home minister gave a “guarantee” that the census and the delimitation would be completed by the 2029 elections. The Bill was adopted. But none of your assurances have been implemented.Modi ji, women paid the price. If you had not insisted on the linkage and presented the 2010 Bill which your own party had voted for at the time, there would have been 180 women in the Lok Sabha today. Instead their number has gone down to just 74, less than in 2019. Ten assembly elections have been held in this period. Instead of one-third, their number is less than 10%. In your home state of Gujarat of the 182 assembly seats, in the elections held in 2022, only 15 are women, just around 8%. Even though you had a two-third majority in parliament, you refused to adopt a legislation which would be implemented with immediate effect. That was the second betrayal, Modi ji.In the midst of important state elections, on April 16, you extended the parliament session to push through a new set of constitutional amendments on the women’s reservation issue. There was no prior discussion with opposition parties nor any consultation with women’s organisations. The constitutional amendments were defeated on the floor of the House. Your game to use the women’s reservation issue to push your agenda of delimitation on the basis of an outdated 2011 census was foiled. It is clear now that your government deliberately did not start the census process because you had planned this move all along. This was your third betrayal, Modi ji.You wanted to increase the seats in Parliament to 850. In your address you said, “The Nari Shakti Vandan amendment was not about taking anything away from anyone. The Nari Shakti Vandan amendment was about giving something to everyone, it was an amendment to give.” In other words, patriarchy in politics is not to be disturbed, let the men keep the power, let their numbers increase – women can be the add ons. You compromised with the opposition in your own party from the feudal casteist lords, who run their fiefdoms and who have been the greatest opponents of women’s reservations. An increase in seats would leave them undisturbed. Additionally the manuvadi approach is clear. Is it not a fact that by using the 2011 census you would have deprived Dalit and Adivasi women of their rightful share in the number of seats reserved for them? The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe population has increased between 2001 and 2026, and so the proportion of their seats should also increase. But your proposal denied them this right.And finally, let us come to the issue of delimitation and the increase of seats. Discuss this separately. Population of states cannot be the basis for proportionate shares as this punishes states for their development. So what can be the basis? Let there be discussion and consultation. In any case, this has nothing to do with women’s reservation.Women are happy that you failed in your manipulation of the women’s reservation issue. You are accusing the opposition of “committing a sin” of “committing female foeticide” for which they “will be punished.” Use your words with more care, Modi ji. If you must use such inappropriate analogies, you should know that there was no foetus. There was a fully formed “being” in the shape of the 2010 Reservation Bill which your party had voted for. You buried that being. If there is a sin, it is that. Women are fed up with the series of betrayals from your government. Do not call it “vandan”. We are not looking for reverence but for rights. Our demand is rooted in our strong belief that a constitutionally mandated increase in women’s participation in parliament and state assemblies will strengthen democracy in India. We support the demand for a caste census, which is what you want to avoid as you do not want the truth of India’s caste inequalities to be documented and addressed through irrefutable data.And please, Modi ji, don’t shed tears for us – just act as you should have done in 2014: bring the Women’s Reservation Bill without linkages, without conditions, in the next session of parliament so that it can be implemented in the next round of elections. We want action not theatrics. Yours sincerely,Brinda KaratBrinda Karat is a senior CPI(M) leader.