The Hindu : National : Congress keen on early passage of Women’s Reservation Bill

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Congress keen on early passage of Women’s Reservation Bill

Gargi Parsai

Party stands by one-third quota, to convey views to Parliament Standing Committee today

Strategy session at AICC office
“Platform for women leaders to express views on amicable passage”

NEW DELHI: The Congress is working towards introducing the Women’s Reservation Bill in the monsoon session of Parliament. “We hope to achieve an all-party consensus on this Bill to ensure its passage,” Congress president Sonia Gandhi said in the latest issue of the party’s in-house journal.

On Monday, senior leaders, mostly women parliamentarians, met at the All-India Congress Committee office here to firm up their strategy.

The meeting, chaired by External Affairs Minister and Leader of the Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee, decided that the party communicate its views on Tuesday to the Standing Committee on Law, which has invited suggestions on the Bill introduced in the budget session.

“There is no change in our stand. We want the Bill, as introduced in the Rajya Sabha [with one-third reservation] to be passed,” said party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan.

This view was later discussed with Ms. Gandhi in a smaller group comprising Mr. Mukherjee, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, Margaret Alva, Ambika Soni and Ms. Natarajan.

According to sources, the opposition to the Bill by its allies such as the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party of the United National Progressive Alliance and the Opposition Janata Dal (United) was also discussed. It was decided to talk to the allies.

There was a view that if there was no agreement on one-third reservation, the Bill might be debated in the House.

OBC quota

Coming out of the meeting chaired by Mr. Mukherjee, Mahila Congress president Prabha Thakur, referring to the opposition by some parties which were keen on OBC reservation, said: “In fact, they did not even need a Women’s Reservation Bill if they were so keen on giving OBC quota to their women members. We want the Bill to be passed. Any amendments can be done later.”

According to Kumari Shelja, the meeting was a platform for women leaders of the Congress to express their views on how the Bill could be passed amicably.

“By encouraging women to come forward to take their legitimate place in the governance of the country, the Congress has shown its continuing commitment to gender equality,” Ms. Gandhi said in the party magazine released on Monday.

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