The Hindu : Women's Bill scuttled again

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 07, 2003

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Women's Bill scuttled again

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI MAY 6. The Women's Reservation Bill was deferred yet again in the face of stiff resistance by some Opposition parties and a section of the ruling National Democratic Alliance in the Lok Sabha today. Opposition to the Bill led to the House being adjourned for an hour-and-a-half in the morning after which the Speaker, Manohar Joshi, called an all-party meeting wherein the decision to defer the Bill was taken in view of the absence of unanimity.

Though the Bill was slated for discussion and passing in the post-lunch session, trouble started as soon as the House assembled for the day with members belonging to the Samajwadi Party, the RJD, the IUML and some NDA allies such as the Samata Party, the JD(U) and the Shiv Sena raising objections. The SP and RJD members trooped into the well of the House demanding withdrawal of the listed 85th Constitution Amendment Bill providing for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies.

The agitated members made it clear that the Bill in its present form — without provision for a quota within a quota — would "never be acceptable" to them. Their demand was that it should have reservation for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the minorities and the OBCs.

To the Government's embarrassment, opposition to the Bill came from a number of its allies. Even the Opposition was divided with heated exchanges between the SP and Congress members over certain remarks made by Shivraj Patil (Cong). This led to several SP MPs accusing the Congress of "joining hands with the BJP". The developments in the House and outside showed strong resistance to the proposed legislation within all parties. Though the Congress and the BJP are publicly committed to the legislation, the leadership's enthusiasm was not shared by their MPs. A number of Congress and BJP members congratulated the SP leader, Mulayam Singh Yadav, for having scuttled the Bill.

Opposition to the Bill also saw long-time foes join hands. The concerted action in the Lok Sabha was the result of a lot of overnight planning outside the House. Laloo Prasad Yadav, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Prabhunath Singh and Sharad Yadav are reported to have worked out a joint strategy and calibrated their efforts in the House to prevent the Bill from even being taken up for consideration.

In the House, Mulayam Singh Yadav said his party was not opposed to reservation for women but wanted the Bill, introduced in the House in 1999, to provide reservation to women belonging to families of farmers, labourers and minorities and other backward classes. The Government's move to insert the clause of rotation of seats was fraught with dangerous consequences and would lead to a snapping of the crucial ties between the electorate and their representatives. He was supported by Raghuvansh Prasad of the RJD. Opposition to the Bill also came from Chandrakant Khaire (Shiv Sena), Devendra Prasad Yadav (JD-U) and Prabahunath Singh (Samata Party) who lamented that the Government did not consider it fit to consult the allies on the issue. Mr. Khaire said the issue of support to the Bill should be left to individual parties, while Mr. Singh urged the Government not to act in haste. He said a large number of MPs from both the BJP and the Congress were opposed to it.

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