Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India]: Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi while speaking at DMK’s Women’s Rights Conference in Chennai on Saturday said that until the Women’s Reservation Bill gets implemented the fight for it will continue.
“The Women’s Reservation Bill has been passed. But it still has a long way to go. And when the bill will be implemented is our question. We are going to fight for it till we don’t get it,” Sonia Gandhi said.
Sonia Gandhi was addressing a session of the Women’s Rights conference organised by DMK in Nandanam YMCA ground in Chennai.
“It was a vital step towards the reservation on a similar one-thirds of seats in the legislative bodies which the Congress pioneered in Parliament and outside. Now the Women’s Reservation Bill has finally been passed due to our relentless persistence and efforts; of all of us, not just the Congress. However, as we all know it is still a long way to go,” she said.
Sonia Gandhi said that “some men are happy” with the Bill, adding, “We women are not.”
“I demand the immediate implementation of the women’s reservation bill,” Priyanka Gandhi said while speaking at the conference.
The conference was chaired by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader MK Stalin.
The primary goal of the conference is to urge the Central government for the immediate implementation of a 33 per cent reservation of women in Parliament and state Assemblies.
It has also been attended by women leaders from across parties who are members of the INDIA bloc.
The ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhniyam’, which provides 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha as well as the state legislative assemblies, was unanimously passed by the Rajya Sabha, becoming the first bill to be passed in the new Parliament building.
On September 20, the Bill was passed following division with 454 members voting in favour of the legislation and two against it on the motion seeking its passage.
The amendments moved by the Opposition members were negatived and separate clauses of the draft legislation were also voted on.
On September 21, Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was ‘unanimously’ passed in Rajya Sabha which marks the PM’s birthday according to the Hindu calendar.
