'North India Mentality' Not Conducive Yet: ​Sharad Pawar On Reservation For Women In Parliament

Sharad Pawar stated that the "mentality" of north India and Parliament does not appear to be conducive to grant women reservation in the Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies.

'North India Mentality' Not Conducive Yet: ​Sharad Pawar On Reservation For Women In Parliament ( Image Source :PTI )

New Delhi: Sharad Pawar, president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has stated that the "mentality" of north India and Parliament does not appear to be conducive to granting women reservation in the Lok Sabha and legislative assemblies. 

According to news agency PTI, the former Union minister made the remarks on Saturday during an interview with his daughter Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule at a programme hosted by the Pune Doctors' Association.

He was responding to a question about the Women's Reservation Bill, which aims to reserve 33% of seats in the Lok Sabha and all state legislative assemblies for women but has yet to be passed, and whether this demonstrates that the country is still not mentally prepared to accept women's leadership. 

Pawar stated that he has been speaking on this issue in Parliament since he was a Lok Sabha member being a Congress leader.

"The 'mansikta' (mentality) of Parliament, particularly in north India, has not been favourable (on this issue). I recall discussing the issue of women's reservation in Parliament when I was a Congress Lok Sabha member. When I turned around after finishing my speech, I saw that the majority of MPs from my party had stood up and left. This means that it was indigestible even for members of my own party,” he claimed, as per PTI.

The NCP chief stated that all (parties) should continue to work to get the bill passed.

"When I was the chief minister of Maharashtra, I implemented reservation for women in local bodies such as the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti. It was initially opposed, but it was later accepted," he stated further.

Women's Reservation Bill 

The Constitution (One Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2008 proposes reserving one-third of all seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women. The allocation of reserved seats shall be made by the authority designated by Parliament. On March 9, 2010, the Rajya Sabha passed the bill. However, the bill was never voted on in the Lok Sabha.