The Hindu : Front Page : Amid drama, Women’s Bill tabled in the Rajya Sabha

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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Amid drama, Women’s Bill tabled in the Rajya Sabha

Gargi Parsai

Unruly scenes and protests by SP and JD(U) members

Photo: R.V. Moorthy

Where left & right unite: CPI(M) and BJP leaders Brinda Karat (left) and Sushma Swaraj exchange pleasantries after the Women’s Reservation Bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. —

NEW DELHI: The government on Tuesday introduced the much-delayed Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 2008, in the Rajya Sabha, amid unruly scenes and protests by Samajwadi Party (SP) and Janata Dal (United) members.

The Bill, popularly known as the Women’s Reservation Bill, seeks to provide one-third of the seats to women in Parliament and State Assemblies.

As soon as Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj rose to introduce the Bill, SP member Abu Azim Azmi, who was protesting with his party colleagues in the well of the House, moved towards the Minister in what appeared a bid to snatch the Bill — a possible repeat of the 1998 incident in which the Bill was torn up in the Lok Sabha after its introduction.

Anticipating such a situation, Congress members had formed a cordon around Mr. Bhardwaj. When Mr. Azmi continued with his attempts, Ministers Renuka Choudhury and Panabaka Lakshmi physically held him back, even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other senior leaders watched.

Congress spokesperson Jayanti Natarajan put herself in the way of Mr. Azmi and Minister of State Vilas Muttemwar also obstructed him.

In the melee, Mr. Bhardwaj tabled the Bill by voice vote. P.J. Kurien, who was in the Chair, declared the Bill introduced and immediately adjourned the House for lunch. Several SP members raised slogans opposing the Bill, while their colleague tore up a copy of the supplementary list of business and threw it into the well of the House.

In a rare show of solidarity, several women MPs placed themselves next to members belonging to the parties — RJD, JD(U) and SP — opposed to the Bill. It was introduced in the Lok Sabha in 1996, 1998 and 1999 but lapsed due to a lack of consensus on a sub-quota for Dalits, OBCs and minority women.

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