Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said the “magician has run out of tricks” and that young Indians can now “see through him,” as he criticised the Narendra Modi-led government over the women’s reservation issue, during an interaction with students in Delhi.
He said greater empowerment of women would benefit the country and added that Gen Z women will lead the way, stressing it is everyone’s responsibility to open opportunities for them.
“Really enjoyed meeting the young women from Gargi College and Delhi University.
“Two things are clear: 1. The magician has run out of tricks. Young India can see right through him. 2. Gen Z is our future – and Gen Z women will lead the way. It is our duty to open every door for them,” the Congress leader said in a post on X.
“The future of our country is in safe hands,” he said.
Gandhi had targeted Prime Minister Modi during the debate in the Lok Sabha on the women’s reservation bill, calling him a “magician”, but the Congress leader’s remark was later expunged from records. The Congress leader also expressed his bias in favour of empowering women, saying they are more effective than men. He lauded BSP chief Mayawati and former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalitha for their role in their respective states.
Gandhi also spoke about the women’s reservation bill, alleging that it could be used to bring in delimitation rather than directly improve representation.
“They suddenly brought this bill and we wanted them to give one-third of the 543 existing seats to women, but they did not do that. Actually, this is not the women’s bill. It is very simple, it is delimitation,” he said.
He cautioned that changes in seat distribution could create regional tensions.
“What they want to do is reduce the number of seats in southern states and increase them in the northern Indian states. But, this is a problem… it is a very dangerous thing… if you change the number of seats in India without very carefully taking into account the consequences, you will risk war between the South and the North,” Gandhi said.
The Congress leader also voiced strong support for women’s leadership, saying he believes women are often more effective.
“I feel that the more you empower in India, the better it is. I am more biased towards empowering women than I am towards men,” he said.