When the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government will table the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha (RS) on March 8.
The opposition, which united in parliament on the fuel price hike issue, is headed for a parting of ways.
When the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government will table the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha (RS) on March 8, Women’s Day, the Left parties and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will vote for it. But the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Janata Dal (United) will try to thwart all attempts at the legislation being passed.
They will not succeed since the UPA, with the support of the Left parties and the BJP, will have two-thirds majority, needed to pass the bill.
Nevertheless, the trio of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, RJD chief Lalu Prasad and JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav is drawing the battle lines. “They can take away our memberships and throw us out of the House, but we will not allow this bill to be passed,” Mulayam has thundered.
The three have been quietly influencing backward caste and Muslim MPs in the Congress and the BJP. “This bill aims at depriving the backward castes and Muslims of the chance of getting elected. It will only help elite upper caste women get elected,” Sharad Yadav says. Their parties want a quota for the backward castes within the 33.3% reservation the bill proposes for women in parliament and state legislatures.
To avoid a replay of the violent scenes that prevented the passage of the bill in the past, CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury has suggested that the bill be put straight to vote since the issue has been debated several times over 15 years. But the Biju Janata Dal wants a debate.
The RS’s business advisory committee approved the bill for next week’s agenda on Thursday. It has allocated four hours for the debate and the passage of the bill.
The bill was introduced in the RS in 2008 and sent to its select committee, which vetted the bill and sent it back to the House for approval.
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