Faced with accusations of having stonewalled legislative business of the government, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday sprang a challenge on the ruling NDA: to get the Women’s Reservation Bill pa
Faced with accusations of having stonewalled legislative business of the government, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday sprang a challenge on the ruling NDA: to get the Women’s Reservation Bill passed in Parliament.
After women MPs cutting across party lines lent their weight to Mrs Gandhi’s demand, Union minister for parliamentary affairs Venkaiah Naidu said the government is working to build consensus on the issue. In the Rajya Sabha, too, members cutting across party lines made a passionate plea for the early passage of the legislation to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in Parliament and state Assemblies. While the Rajya Sabha had exactly six years ago passed the Women’s Reservation Bill and took pride in the move, the legislation has been pending in the Lok Sabha.
Taking part during a discussion on International Women’s Day, Mrs Gandhi made an impassioned plea, saying, “Give us women our legitimate due” by passing the Women’s Reservation Bill. She also took on a few of the BJP-ruled state governments for having made educational qualifications mandatory for contesting local polls and thereby denying women their right to contest. She singled out Haryana and Rajasthan having made minimum educational qualification necessary to contest local elections. Mrs Gandhi claimed that such state governments have denied a large number of women from SC/ST groups the opportunity to exercise their constitutional rights and sought “urgent legislative attention” to undo it. She mentioned that it was the Congress that gave the country the first woman Prime Minister in Indira Gandhi, besides panchayati raj.
Women MPs, in an approximately two-hour discussion, made it a point to mention that participation of women in Parliament grew to 12 per cent from five per cent in the 1950s.
Mr Naidu, while replying to the discussion, stated, “Our government is working towards evolving consensus. Hope we succeed at the earliest to get the bill for 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament passed.” However, when pressed by an Opposition MP for a time line, he retorted: “They (Congress government) could not evolve consensus in 10 years.”
Last week President Pranab Mukherjee and vice-president Hamid Ansari had strongly pitched for the early passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill even though Prime Minister Narendra Modi maintained silence on the issue and in place suggested technological empowerment of women.
Meanwhile, women MPs made their voices heard in the Lok Sabha on the occasion. Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan rode a “Harley” motorcycle to Parliament, which sent the shutter-boxes into a frenzy. Trinamul Congress MP Shatabdi Roy in her brief speech argued that until income levels of women rose there could not be effective empowerment. “We don’t want a separate seat in the bus, we want to drive that bus. We don’t want separate queues. There should be no tax exemption. I want to earn '5 crore and pay my full tax,” said Ms Roy, who is also a film celebrity.
Shiv Sena MP Bhavna Gawali raised the issue of the temple authorities at the Shani temple in Maharashtra not allowing women to enter the temple’s sanctum sanctorum. She added, “While we talk of equality, we can’t go to temples.” She recalled the stand of the late Bal Thackeray that parties should decide on reserving seats for women.
To mark Women’s Day, the Upper House decided to allow all women legislators who had given notices to raise Zero Hour mentions at the first chance.
Congress members took credit of getting the bill passed in the Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010, during the UPA government’s tenure, and asked what the present government was doing when it had absolute an majority in the Lok Sabha.
Deputy chairman P.J. Kurien suggested a discussion on women’s reservation. “We can put indirect pressure so that the bill is passed (in the Lok Sabha),” he said.
Minister of state for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the government was ready for a discussion on the issue.
Minority affairs minister Najma Heptulla said she, as a minister, cannot give a Zero Hour notice but wants to speak on the issue. Ms Heptulla said women are still discriminated against and the House should pass a resolution for a cleaner society where women are protected. “I feel that not only women, the time has come for men too to speak about women’s empowerment,” she said.
Deputy chairman P.J. Kurien said the Rajya Sabha can take pride that it has passed the women’s reservation bill. “All of us expect and hope it becomes the law of the land.”
Viplove Thakur (Congress) said child marriages are prevalent even today in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, and added that this day should not be celebrated as a mere ritual.
Rajani Patil (Congress) said Rajiv Gandhi showed the way through the 73rd Amendment providing reservation in village panchayats and Dr Manmohan Singh showed political will by getting the women’s reservation bill passed in the Rajya Sabha. She asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to show political will and “pass it in the Lok Sabha where you have a majority” and added that there was a need to change mindsets.
