In two words, Congress Member of Parliament Sonia Gandhi owned the Women’s Reservation Bill, tabled in the Lok Sabha to reserve one-third of seats in the Parliament and state legislative Assemblies on Tuesday, September 19. She said, ‘Apna hei’, to reporters seeking reaction, “It is ours.”
Congress leaders and the party’s official page soon put out the order in which bills for women’s reservation in governing bodies were first introduced in the Parliament during their reign starting September 1989. .
Read: Tracing the political history of the Women’s Reservation Bill
Sonia Gandhi’s response, “it’s ours”, is in tune with the long fight she’d waged for the Bill, noted party veterans. “Sonia Gandhi will be the happiest political leader when the Bill is passed and will become law,” said Congress leader P Chidambaram.
The party welcomed the introduction of the Bill in the Lok Sabha, something they had been pressing for nine years since it was already passed in the Rajya Sabha, they said. But it could have been discussed in the all-party meeting before the special session to reach a consensus instead of “operating under a veil of secrecy”, the Congress said.
Jairam Ramesh said that Manmohan Singh as PM had brought the Constitution Amendment Bill for one-third reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures and it was passed on March 9, 2010 in the Rajya Sabha. But it was not taken up in Lok Sabha. “Bills introduced/ passed in Rajya Sabha do not lapse. The Women's Reservation Bill is still very much active,” he said.
Several political parties came out in support of the Bill, though they questioned the various aspects of it. Samajwadi Party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary told PTI that their concern is about how much of the reservation will benefit the oppressed communities. They had opposed the Bill during the UPA’s time and even now they are not in complete agreement of the Bill, he said. What will be the quantum of reservation to tribal people and Dalits, he asked.
Back in 2009, SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav opposed the Bill and called it a conspiracy against those who reached the Lok Sabha through hard struggles. At the time, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav was also against the Bill, saying that passing it without consensus would tantamount to administering poison by force.
In 2010, several BJP leaders ridiculed the passing of the Bill. Yogi Adityanath, who is now Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, had said that the Bill would drown the Indian political system, if it is passed. Another BJP leader, Amit Malviya, who now heads the BJP IT Cell, said that Sonia Gandhi “was holding the nation to ransom just to fulfil her agenda to see the women reservation Bill through.”
Some were critical of the provisions of the Bill in its current form. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi said that the BJP was not interested in the welfare of women and a closer look at the Bill will show that it is to fool women ahead of the 2024 elections. Pointing to the aspects of the Bill such as the rotation of seats reserved for women and its duration of 15 years, Atishi asked why such provisions were included.
“If the intentions were genuine, one-third of the Lok Sabha seats would have been reserved for women in the 2024 elections. Our demand for Prime Minister Modi is that reservation for women should be implemented in the 2024 elections, without waiting for delimitation and census,” Atishi said.
The Bill, if passed, would come into effect only after the exercise of delimitation is undertaken once the next Census is completed.
Though the Trinamool Congress is yet to make an official statement after the introduction of the Bill, party spokesperson Derek O’ Brien said during a debate that the TMC has one-third women MPs while BJP has 14%.
However, the Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati said that they will vote in favour of the bill. “Our party is hopeful that this bill will be promulgated this time after hanging fire for such a long time,” she added.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) which has been supportive of the Bill is yet to make a statement about its introduction at the Lok Sabha on Monday. The party's official page says, "The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) reiterates its firm support for women’s reservation as formulated in the Constitution amendment bill. All parties should abide by the democratic process of decision making in Parliament to decide the fate of the Bill."