“For their own political gains…”: Dimple Yadav on Women’s Reservation Bill

New Delhi [India]: Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav on Wednesday congratulated the women of the country on the Women’s Reservation Bill and said that the Centre has brought this legislation for their own political gains as the country is set to enter in the election mode phase.

Dimple Yadav said, “Congratulations to all the women in the country. BJP-led Centre has brought this legislation as almost six months are left for the dates to be announced for the Lok Sabha elections. Keeping in mind the strength of the INDIA bloc and upcoming elections this legislation has been brought for their own political gains.”

The ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’ is the first Bill passed by Lok Sabha during the special session after it shifted to the new Parliament building on Tuesday.

The bill was passed after a day-long debate in which several leaders across party lines put forth their views. The Congress was represented by its Parliamentary party leader Sonia Gandhi who urged the government to look into OBC and SC quota for women in the bill.

After hours of fierce debate, the Lok Sabha passed the Women’s Reservation Bill with 454 votes which provides 33 per cent reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2023, was passed after a reply by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal.

In a historic move, the Vice-President and the Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Thursday reconstituted the panel of vice-chairpersons comprising 13 women Rajya Sabha members for the day as the house discusses the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam Bill, 2023.

The Rajya Sabha Chairman emphasized that the presence of women MPs on the chair would send a powerful message to the world at large and it would symbolize that they held a ‘commanding position’ during this epochal moment of change.

The Rajya Sabha had earlier passed the Women’s Reservation Bill in 2010 during the Congress-led UPA government but it was not taken up in the Lok Sabha and subsequently lapsed in the lower House of Parliament.