“Centre won’t implement Women’s Reservation Bill”: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Patna (Bihar) [India]: Amid the ongoing discussion in Parliament over the implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar alleged on Wednesday that the BJP-led central government will not implement the bill and that they have taken it forward only to gain political advantage in the elections.

“They will not implement the bill; if they wanted to do so, they would have done it earlier,” he said.

“Women’s Reservation is necessary and we have been demanding it since the beginning… They will not implement it. We have told them to do a caste-based census, we have demanded this,” Bihar CM said while talking to the reporters in Patna.

Discussion for passing of the Bill in the House began today at 11 with Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introducing the amendments in the Bill.

The Bill will be taken up in Rajya Sabha on September 21, government sources said.

Meanwhile, seeking immediate implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi extended her party’s support to the “Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2023” Bill.

“A delay in the implementation of the bill is a gross unfairness to the women of the country,” she said, adding, “I stand in support of Nari Shakti Vandan Adhinyam 2023.

Women are being told that they will have to wait longer for this bill to become law. We demand that the bill be made law immediately. I appeal to the government to do this immediately,” Sonia Gandhi said in Lok Sabha.

She also asked Centre to carry out a caste census to ensure the participation of women belonging to Other Backward Class/Scheduled Caste (OBC/SC) communities.

Criticising the Centre for not including the women belonging to the backward and Scheduled Caste (SC) community, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari on Wednesday urged the Centre to pass the 2010 Bill in Lok Sabha and start the reservation.

“I challenge that if BJP’s policy and intention are honest, then give a guarantee that women will get a reservation in 2024 elections – we will stand with you with all our strength,” MP Tiwari said.

Tiwari further said, “Are the Backward and SC, not women? How will you go for women’s reservations without including them? I only say that if you were honest, the 2010 Bill that was passed by the Rajya Sabha is still there – you should have passed that in the Lok Sabha and started the reservation.”