NEW DELHI: Amid all the speculation around the possible agenda items for the special Parliament session from September 18-22, the contentious women’s reservation bill is seen as one of the possibilities. The government though is yet to make any formal announcement about the issues to be taken up during the sittings through five days.
Sources said the Modi government has been contemplating for long over the pending bill on women’s reservation, a move to not only bring gender parity in the number of lawmakers but also help BJP since women are seen to have emerged as big backers of the Modi government’s social welfare and empowerment initiatives.
Women’s quota in legislatures has been hanging fire for long. It was last brought in by Congress-led UPA government in 2008, but it developed cold feet in the face of strong opposition from Mandalite parties. The bill was not introduced in Lok Sabha even as it was passed with two-thirds majority with support of BJP and the Left parties in the upper House.However, the parties at the forefront of that opposition may not be as strident this time around.
JD(U) has already been shuffling its stand and even though it realises that BJP will milk any such move, it is likely to go along with the move. SP and RJD, two other parties vehemently opposed to women’s quota, no longer have the numbers or political heft to mount any significant opposition. Also, in view of the changed political landscape, with women emerging as an independent and crucial constituency, they will have to make adjustments.
Sources said the Modi government has been contemplating for long over the pending bill on women’s reservation, a move to not only bring gender parity in the number of lawmakers but also help BJP since women are seen to have emerged as big backers of the Modi government’s social welfare and empowerment initiatives.
Women’s quota in legislatures has been hanging fire for long. It was last brought in by Congress-led UPA government in 2008, but it developed cold feet in the face of strong opposition from Mandalite parties. The bill was not introduced in Lok Sabha even as it was passed with two-thirds majority with support of BJP and the Left parties in the upper House.However, the parties at the forefront of that opposition may not be as strident this time around.
JD(U) has already been shuffling its stand and even though it realises that BJP will milk any such move, it is likely to go along with the move. SP and RJD, two other parties vehemently opposed to women’s quota, no longer have the numbers or political heft to mount any significant opposition. Also, in view of the changed political landscape, with women emerging as an independent and crucial constituency, they will have to make adjustments.
The bill was first introduced by H D Deve Gowda government in 1996 and by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government on several occasions in 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2003. In 1996, JD(U) veteran Sharad Yadav had emerged as the face of the opposition to the bill with his ‘par kati nari’ jibe as he supported the demand for a ‘quota within quota’ (reservation for backward women) in the bill.
Congress might find it difficult to oppose the bill as the party has been an advocate of fixing the 33% quota for women for a long.
The support of a few non-aligned regional parties like BJD, YSRCP, has come handy for BJP in the past during key legislative business, especially in Rajya Sabha, where the governing party lacks majority.