BJP MP Kangana Ranaut on Thursday launched a sharp attack on the Congress in the Lok Sabha, accusing the opposition of stalling women’s political empowerment for decades while questioning the Centre’s urgency in pushing the women’s reservation framework.

Speaking during a debate on proposed amendments linked to the women’s quota law and the setting up of a delimitation commission, the actor-turned-politician aimed at Congress leaders for raising doubts about the government’s intent.

Referring to remarks by Sonia Gandhi, Ranaut questioned why the opposition was criticising the pace of the legislation.

“You ask why there is such urgency; should we have let it hang for 30 years as you did?” she said, drawing a contrast between the current government and previous regimes.

Ranaut strongly defended Narendra Modi, crediting his leadership with accelerating welfare and empowerment initiatives for women.

She argued that several measures, ranging from housing schemes to LPG connections and greater inclusion of women in the armed forces, had been fast-tracked under his tenure.

“What could not be achieved in 60 years has been delivered in just 10,” she said, adding that the prime minister was working with urgency to ensure justice and representation for women.

Calling him the “flagbearer of feminism”, Ranaut went on to describe Modi as “the biggest feminist”.

Highlighting the low representation of women in politics, the Mandi MP pointed to her home state, Himachal Pradesh, where she said only one woman is among 68 MLAs.

She claimed that similar trends persist across other states, with female representation hovering around 8–9%.

Her remarks came as the Centre moved forward with legislative steps to operationalise women’s reservation in legislatures.

The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill seeks to mandate 33% reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state and Union Territory Assemblies, subject to delimitation.

Alongside it, the government also introduced the Delimitation Bill and amendments to Union Territories laws to extend the proposed quota to regions including Delhi, Puducherry, and Jammu and Kashmir.

The debate marks a renewed push by the Centre to translate the long-pending promise of women’s political reservation into actionable law, even as it triggers sharp political exchanges between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress.