Thiruvananthapuram, April 3 (IANS) Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Union Minister Smriti Irani, on Friday, expressed her gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Women's Reservation Act. On the Central government's declaration of almost eradicating Naxalism in the country, she said the "Left Party" in India stood for "mayhem and constitutional anarchy".
Speaking to IANS, Smriti Irani said, "Women, specially those who wanted political emancipation of fellow citizens have struggled for years to ensure that this affirmative action is undertaken. I am extremely grateful that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has moved it from assurance to a reality and it is definitely under his leadership that we will finally see political equity come to full force in India."
The Constitution (106th Amendment) Act, 2023 -- earlier known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam -- provides for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha, State Legislative Assemblies and the Delhi Assembly, including seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
About Union Home Minister Amit Shah's speech in the Lok Sabha regarding the near complete eradication of Naxalism, Smriti Irani, a former Union Minister, said, "It was more than obvious with evidence presented in the Parliament that what the "Left Party" stood for in India was not only mayhem but also constitutional anarchy."
She called Naxalism "a political organisation that was institutionalised in India only with the purpose of breaking the country, of breaking the citizens' belief in not only the hierarchy that the Constitution sets up but also the very justice that the Constitution ensures every citizen".
"Given that history of the Left Party, there is nothing that they can do with regards to 'vikas'," she told IANS.
As the BJP leader took part in a rally ahead of the April 9 Assembly election in Kerala, she accused the incumbent Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) governments of "institutionalising corruption".
The BJP leader told reporters, "Especially for the Christian community I want to say that in Kerala, LDF, UDF have both become the flag bearers of institutionalised corruption. The young talent in Kerala today flees for better prospects."
She also commented about the Congress and CPI-M accusing each other of being in a "deal" with the BJP.
"I think it is not only a fallacy, it is a state of political delusion that both the Kerala Chief Minister (Pinarayi Vijayan) and Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi are suffering from," she said.
The former Union Minister also alleged, "They (Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra) have never fought politics on the basis of merit. They never themselves exhibited any projects of development. They have always done politics of slander."
Meanwhile, Smriti Irani was hopeful about BJP's victory in Kerala.
"We (BJP) are hopeful that under the leadership of the PM Modi, when the lotus blooms in Kerala, new definitions and new milestones of development will be established in the state," she said.
Campaigning for Assembly elections is also underway in other poll-bound states, including West Bengal.
Smriti Irani accused the incumbent Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal of indulging in corruption, saying: "Corruption and Trinamool have become synonymous with each other."
--IANS
cg/khz