The Bharatiya Janata Party went on the offensive on Saturday, accusing the Congress of preaching women's empowerment while failing to practise it in the States it actually governs.

At a press conference, BJP spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi laid out a set of numbers he said exposed the Congress' "hypocrisy" — and for the Opposition party, the arithmetic is uncomfortable.

4States where the Congress is in power
3Women Ministers across all four States
0Women Ministers in Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka
Key facts
  • The Congress governs four States but has only three women Ministers in all of them combined.
  • Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka have no women Ministers at all.
  • Kerala has two women Ministers; Telangana had two, one of whom has been removed.
  • Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking women's reservation without waiting for delimitation.
  • Trivedi also raised the alleged tampering of JPSC examination papers, terming it "paper loot".

A gap between words and cabinets

The Congress is in power in four States. Yet across all of them, Trivedi said, there are only three women Ministers. Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka have none at all. Kerala has two, and Telangana had two — one of whom has since been removed. For a party that speaks so often and so loudly about women's empowerment, he suggested, the gap between its rhetoric and its own cabinets is hard to explain away.

The letter at the heart of the attack

Trivedi pointed to what he framed as the contradiction at the centre of the Congress' position. Party president Mallikarjun Kharge, he noted, had earlier written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking the implementation of women's reservation without waiting for delimitation. But the party's own State governments, Trivedi argued, reflect no such commitment — a mismatch he said amounts to "hypocrisy".

The record the BJP held up

To sharpen the contrast, Trivedi cited the Narendra Modi government's initiatives for women: Jan Dhan accounts, the Ujjwala LPG connection scheme, toilet construction, and permanent commissions for women in the armed forces. These, he said, demonstrate the government's focus on women's empowerment.

'Paper loot' in Jharkhand

The attack did not stop at representation. Trivedi also criticised the Congress over the alleged tampering of question papers in a Jharkhand Public Service Commission (JPSC) examination, terming the incident "paper loot". Opposition parties, he accused, are selective in raising examination-related issues — vocal on some, silent on Jharkhand.

The charges land in the middle of a sharpening national debate over women's reservation and when it should take effect.