INDIA Bloc To Firm Up Strategy On Women’s Bill On April 15

New Delhi: The INDIA bloc will meet on April 15, a day before the special session of parliament starts on April 16, to discuss and firm up a united view over the Centre’s proposed changes to the women’s reservation bill.

The Centre has convened a special session of parliament on April 16, 17 and 18 to pass some changes to the women’s reservation bill known as the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam that was passed by both the Houses of parliament in 2023 and later became a law after the President of India signed it.

The law, which gives 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, was to be implemented from 2029 once the population count and delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats were done across the country.

However, the Centre’s sudden push for the legislation in the middle of assembly elections in four states and one UT (Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal) has made the opposition suspicious.

The opposition suspects the Centre is pushing through some changes to the women’s bill and may bring up the delimitation issue stealthily to gain political mileage in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, where assembly elections are going to be held on April 23 and April 23 and 29 respectively. Elections in Assam, Kerala and Puducherry were held on April 9. All results will be out on May 4.

The opposition is also suspicious of the Centre’s move, as the government had ignored a request for an all-party meeting after April 29 to discuss both the women’s bill and the delimitation issue. The opposition parties had argued that rushing with the women’s bill in the middle of state elections would go against the model code of conduct that will be in place till April 29. However, the government decided to go ahead with the special session as announced on April 2.

The Congress, which leads the INDIA bloc, held a meeting of its Working Committee on April 10 to discuss the women’s bill and the linked issue of delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats. The CWC discussed the likely reasons why the Centre was rushing through the issue. Among the views that emerged during the CWC meeting were that the Centre was pushing through the women’s bill as it wanted to deflect public attention from the impact of the West Asian crisis on the country’s economy, as well as the mediation role for Pakistan towards ending the Iran war. The CWC members felt that such a role for Pakistan reflected the Centre’s foreign policy failure.

The CWC also noted that even though the Congress had urged the Centre to roll out the women’s reservation bill from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the government had cited the need to complete the census and the delimitation of Lok Sabha and Assembly seats first.

All these issues will now be discussed during the INDIA bloc leaders meeting on April 15, so the opposition goes into the special session with a united view.

“It is proper that the INDIA bloc discusses the matter of national importance before the special session. The Congress was the first party that gave reservations to women in local bodies and had been regularly pressing for passage of the women’s reservation bill before 2023,” Congress Lok Sabha MP Mohammad Jawed told ETV Bharat.

Samajwadi Party Rajya Sabha MP Jawed Ali Khan said the BJP was trying to get political mileage in West Bengal by pushing changes to the women’s bill and aims to delink the census with the implementation of 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and assemblies. He also wondered what the centre was doing over the issue from 2023, if it was keen on rolling out the law from 2029.

“The opposition parties had urged the Centre to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the women’s bill and then call a special session to pass the changes it suggested after assembly elections were over in West Bengal. The sky would not have fallen if this had been done after a gap of 15 days, but the government showed stubbornness and went ahead with the special session on April 16-18. The reason is that they think the BJP can get some mileage in West Bengal, but that may or may not happen. The BJP has no presence in Tamil Nadu. So, it is beyond reason why they are rushing with the special session,” Khan told ETV Bharat.

“When the opposition parties meet, they will arrive at a common ground on how to deal with the issue. The INDIA bloc is together over the issue and feels the BJP is trying to get political mileage. The government should answer why it did nothing on the census, which should have been done in 2021 and has been delayed. If they could wait for four years, why can’t they wait for 15 more days before the issue of women’s reservation as well as delimitation has been thoroughly discussed with the opposition parties? Such issues need discussion, and it is a fact that the entire opposition had supported the 33 per cent reservation for women in 2023,” he said.

TMC Lok Sabha MP Kirti Azad noted the government ignored the opposition’s call for an all-party meeting and was bulldozing through the special session.

“They have a habit of bulldozing through things in parliament. They never let the opposition speak. They are doing the same now,” Azad told ETV Bharat.

The MP further said that if the BJP was trying to push through the women’s bill, it would not succeed in West Bengal, where the ruling party had given around 37 per cent representation to women in various democratic institutions.

“Our party has given around 37 per cent representation to women in various platforms. The BJP will not get any success in West Bengal,” said Azad.

The Centre has said the women’s reservation bill is to be discussed during the special session, but there has been no word on the issue of delimitation that will take the count of Lok Sabha seats from 543 to 816.

“Earlier, the delimitation used to be done on the basis of population. Now there are unconfirmed reports that the government may bring in a 50 per cent increase across the board. This is a serious matter and should be discussed before any implementation,” said Khan.

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