With both the proponents and opponents of the bill girding themselves up for battle, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked party MPs not to leave the capital.
The Women’s Reservation Bill, a potential game changer in Indian politics, moved into the final lap on Friday, nearly 14 years after it was introduced in Parliament. Determined to see the bill through in the Rajya Sabha on March 8, the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left parties have issued a whip asking all their MPs to vote for the bill.
With both the proponents and opponents of the bill girding themselves up for battle, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked party MPs not to leave the capital on the weekend, and to be present in the house when the bill is put to vote. The quota bill will be a gift to women on March 8, the 100th International Women’s Day, she has told the party.
In a last ditch effort to stave off the bill, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad, one of the chief opponents, called on prime minister Manmohan Singh urging him to call an all-party meeting to try and evolve a consensus on the issue.
The ruling UPA’s floor managers are leaving nothing to chance. Parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal hosted a lunch for the chief players of all political parties on Friday and urged them to issue the whip. Ministers travelling out of Delhi were asked to return to the capital.
The bill, once cleared, will change the existing gender profile of Parliament and the state legislatures; it is also likely to significantly impact the Congress’s relations with the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the RJD. The SP has always enjoyed a love-hate relationship with the Congress while the RJD was an ally of the Congress both in Bihar and at the Centre till not very long ago.
Given the arithmetic of both the houses, the bill is likely to be passed by the required two-thirds majority. However, since it will change the composition and the gender profiles of the state assemblies, it will also have to be ratified at that level. Then the election commission will mark out constituencies that will be reserved for women.
No wonder experts say it will take time before this bill becomes a law.
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