RJD stands alone in demand for sending women’s reservation bill to House panel

The party’s Rajya Sabha member Manoj K. Jha said the Parliament would be committing a ‘historic blunder’ if it did not amend the Bill to include quota for Other Backward Classes

Members of Parliament while voting on clauses of the Women’s Reservation Bill on demand of an Opposition MP in Lok Sabha during the Special Session of Parliament, in New Delhi on September 20, 2023. | Photo Credit: ANI

In a sea of support for the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam or the Women’s Reservation Bill, the Rashtriya Janata Dal stood isolated in the Rajya Sabha over its demand to send it to a select committee. The party’s Rajya Sabha member Manoj K. Jha, the lone speaker on the legislation, said the Parliament would be committing a “historic blunder” if it did not amend the Bill to include quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

Though all the INDIA partners came out unanimously in support of “quota within quota” or reservation for the OBCs within the 33% reservation for women and immediate implementation, all of them stood in support of the legislation. The RJD was the only party that refused to spell out its position either in support or in opposition to the Bill.

“I would urge all my friends here to not bother about the party whips. The question here is not of “supporting or opposing” the Bill. We still have an opportunity to send the Bill to a select committee to incorporate the OBC quota. And if we don’t do it, we would be committing a historic blunder,” Mr. Jha said.

It is time, he added, to take a step beyond the empty rhetoric on OBCs. Quota within quota is for bringing affirmative action for every layer of the society. His remarks were aimed at both the government and the RJD’s allies in the INDIA bloc.

Since Wednesday, when the Bill was passed in the Lok Sabha, Mr. Jha asserted that more than a joyous welcome of the legislation that could pave way for more representation for the women, the narrative is about the government being anti-OBC.

As per the 2008 delimitation, currently the Lok Sabha has 412 general seats, 84 seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and 47 for Scheduled Tribes. If the 33% quota is applied for women for the current Lok Sabha, then it will come to 136 seats. Mr. Jha argued that the reservation for SC and ST women should not be from the existing quota, as the current Bill states. It should be out of the 33% reserved for them. And there should be a separate OBC quota within 33% seats marked for women. He also moved amendments to this effect.