Women's Reservation Bill To Be Debated Today, Sonia Gandhi To Lead Congress Charge: Top Points

The debate on Women's Reservation Bill will take place on Tuesday in Lok Sabha and Sonia Gandhi would open the discussion for Congress.

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi would open the debate from the party's side on womens' reservation bill

Source : PTI

The Centre on Tuesday introduced the long-pending bill to provide 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies on which the House will debate on Wednesday and Sonia Gandhi would lead from Congress’s side. The bill proposes that the reservation will continue for a period of 15 years and a quota will be reserved for women from Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe within the seats reserved for women. Making a strong pitch, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the government wants increased participation of women in the development process of the country. 

However, the implementation of the legislation may still take some time as the reservation will come into effect only after a delimitation exercise is completed, which makes it unlikely to come into force for the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls. 

The Opposition targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre over this clause calling it a “betrayal”. 

• Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, who on Tuesday said that the bill “is ours”, will lead the debate over the bill from Congress’s side. Asked about the bill when she was entering Parliament on Tuesday, Gandhi said, "It is ours, apna hai." 
• Speaking in Lok Sabha, PM Modi asserted women’s participation in country’s policy making and said, "For that work of giving power to women and for many such noble works, God has chosen me. Once again our government has taken a step in this direction.”
• Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that the Narishakti Vandan Bill is a "revolutionary" step towards women empowerment, adding "it will play a big role in building a developed India."
• Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar also welcomed the bill, but with a few riders, including quotas for women from OBCs and Extremely Backward Classes. He also rued the Centre's "failure to conduct the census" after which fresh delimitation of constituencies in assemblies and Parliament would, as per the bill, precede the implementation of women's reservation.
• Aam Aadmi Party leader and Delhi minister Atishi alleged that the bill is to befool women ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. "Why can't Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi provide reservations to women in the 2024 elections without waiting for the census and delimitation. If he truly cares about women, why doesn't he implement the bill on the existing 543 seats in the Lok Sabha?" she asked. 
• Deeming it a "betrayal of the women's movement", Congress MP Tewari criticised the bill and pointed to its Clause 334 A, which implies that the reservation won't take effect before 2029, contingent on census and delimitation. "If the government was serious about it, they should have brought women's reservation now," he remarked.
• Shiv Sena UBT MP Priyanka Chaturvedi told PTI, "All I want to say is that this (Women’s Reservation Bill) is an auspicious beginning that comes with terms and conditions. These terms and conditions are that this bill can’t be implemented in 2024, but will be implemented after the delimitation exercise. This means that they (Centre) have opened the doors but the entry will be allowed after 2029."
• Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal expressed scepticism regarding the Modi government's Bill, saying, "They (BJP government) want political advantage in 2024 and want to tell women that they did such a historic thing, they should have done this in 2014 and we were with them. What is so historic about this? 
• Hitting back at the Opposition, Union Minister Anurag Thakur criticised the Congress for the UPA legislation on Women's reservation saying, "Kapil Sibal has exposed his previous party (Congress). He was a minister then. He knew that Congress was making pretense. It (Women's Reservation Bill) was brought up in 2008 when elections were due in 2009. Then, it was sent to the standing committee. They thought they wouldn't return to power, but they did.