Demanding the immediate passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill, the women’s wing of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) staged a protest march in Delhi on Monday under the leadership of its Rajya Sabha member Kanimozhi.
The Bill, which proposes 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies, was introduced in the lower house in September 1996, but has faced several roadblocks.
Monday’s march comes three days after DMK’s working president M.K Stalin wrote to the Prime Minister seeking his intervention for the early enactment of the Bill.
More than a hundred protesters, mostly women, marched from Mandi House to Jantar mantar Road, where leaders from various parties spoke.
“It’s indeed puzzling to think why the Women’s Reservation Bill has not been passed all this while. It’s been 20 years already and yet it has failed to become a law,” Ms. Kanimozhi told presspersons.
Silence on Bill
“Our objective is to bring the Bill back to the spotlight because at the moment, nobody is talking about it, not even the media. We want all like-minded parties to come and join us in this effort.” Taking a dig at the Prime Minister’s oft-repeated slogan of Sabka sath, sabka vikas , Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party said, “Unless the Central government can promise to take the women along in the legislative process, it [the slogan] will remain only a poll gimmick.”
D. Raja of the CPI and Renuka Chaudhury of the Congress were present.
