New Parliament Building: This is the second day of the special session and the first in the new building.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday made a strong plea for the Women Reservation Act in his opening speech in the new Parliament. Stating that he was “chosen by God for this pious task”, the Prime Minister called for greater focus on women-led development and praised the bill, which was approved by the Union Cabinet late last night and tabled this afternoon. “The world understands that just talking about women (led) development is not enough… this is a positive step taken on this front.”
The Prime Minister also took the moment to launch an attack on the opposition, stating that previous governments – an unspoken reference to Congress-led governments that preceded his – had failed to pass this bill approve.
“Parliament has also tried (to pass the bill) in the past… there have been discussions about women’s reservations for years. I can proudly say that we have made history,” the Prime Minister told Parliament.
“The bill has been introduced several times in Atalji‘s (late former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee) tenure… (now) God has chosen me for this pious task,” the Prime Minister stated amid criticism that his government had so far delayed the passage of this bill in anticipation of an image improvement for the next. general elections of the year.
READ |Women’s Reservation Bill: Prime Minister calls it “Agni Pareeksha For MPs”
The Prime Minister had also earlier said that the passage of the bill – introduced today by Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal – would be a “agni parreeksha“, or trial by fire, for parliamentarians.
The Women Reservation Bill
The bill proposes 33 percent reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures.
The Lok Sabha will discuss the bill on Wednesday and the Rajya Sabha will debate it on Thursday.
Differences over a quota for women within the quota reserved for SC and ST communities had prevented the bill from being passed by Parliament despite being passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010.
The bill subsequently fell as it was not passed by the Lok Sabha within the stipulated time.
But this time, given the Bharatiya Janata Party’s brute majority in the Lok Sabha and support from allies in the Rajya Sabha, the bill is on the verge of becoming law.
READ | Only women’s quota in 2029? Exclusive details of new invoice
However, the quota may not come into effect until 2029, as it will depend on data from a census that has not yet taken place and on a demarcation or redrawing of constituencies.
The latter will not take place until 2027 – after the next census.
“It’s ours,” says Congress
Ex-Congress chief Sonia Gandhi claimed the bill on behalf of our party and called it ‘ours’. The Congress also said it welcomed the reintroduction of a bill first introduced by the government.
“It’s ours, monkey hiMrs Gandhi told reporters.
“My apologies,” PM says
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister claimed the spirit of a fresh start at the new Parliament building and also apologized in his speech… to anyone we have hurt intentionally or unintentionally.
“Samvatsari (a Jain festival) is celebrated today… this is a beautiful tradition. Today is the day we can say ‘micami dukkadam‘…this gives us the opportunity to apologize to someone we have hurt intentionally or unintentionally. I want to say ‘micami dukkadam‘ to all Members of Parliament and the people of India.”
