With the government in a crisis of confidence, it was left to AICC president Sonia Gandhi to call the bluff of the Yadav trio — Lalu Prasad, Mulayam and Sharad — on the women’s bill.
As a jittery Congress mulled the consequences of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Samajwadi Party (SP) threat to withdraw support to the UPA government, Sonia goaded her party into action. At the Congress core committee meeting on Monday night, she made a strong pitch for the passage of the bill in the Rajya Sabha. Again, at the meeting in the prime minister’s parliamentary party office on Tuesday, she drove her ‘no climbdown’ message forcefully across.
“It is a risk worth taking… we made a commitment in our election manifesto and we are duty-bound to honour it,” she argued before her party colleagues at the meeting. She also made it clear that the failure to take the bill forward would not only be a huge political setback, but also expose the party to blackmail by those supporting the government.
The result of the pep talk was visible on Tuesday. As the House started debating the bill, a visibly happy Congress president, interacting with reporters, dismissed suggestions that its passage could create problems for the government.
“I do not see any problems coming up now. The UPA will remain intact,’’ she said. She said the ruling combine was prepared to discuss the demands made by the RJD and the SP after it was cleared in the Upper House. She said that she had said as much to both RJD chief Lalu Prasad and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav when they met her in the Lok Sabha. In fact, it is learnt that she had reminded Lalu Prasad that he should check with wife Rabri Devi and his seven daughters who would all support and benefit from the bill.
She said the bill meant a great deal to her as it would help better the lot of women. Besides, it was also a dream of her late husband Rajiv Gandhi, she added.
She confessed that she was “disappointed with Monday’s developments” but she complimented NCP chief Sharad Pawar and the DMK for being consistent in their support of the bill. Asked about railways minister Mamata Banerjee’s opposition to the manner in which the bill was passed, Sonia Gandhi pointed out “the issue was discussed at the cabinet meeting on February 26, during which Mamata enthusiastically supported the measure”.
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