The women’s reservation bill will ensure equal participation of women in Parliament and the legislation is a “guarantee” for the country’s success, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister, who was addressing an event in Ahmedabad, also said that in the last nine years, his government worked to make women’s lives better and did away with various social stigmas.
Addressing the crowd at the event titled ‘Nari Shakti Vandan - Abhinandan’, Modi said: “I can see the happiness on your faces. This happiness is obvious... Your brother has done one more thing to earn your trust. The women’s reservation bill means equal participation of women in Parliament, this is Modi’s guarantee.”
He added: “You sent lots of rakhis on Raksha Bandhan. So, as your brother, this bill is a gift from me to you. I had prepared this gift well in advance, but kept it a secret. This bill guarantees that your rights will be protected. This bill is a guarantee for India’s success, because if women come forward, no one can stop our country.”
On September 21, Parliament approved the 106th amendment to the Constitution to reserve a third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures for women, a landmark endorsement of a decades-long crusade that was unsuccessful on at least six occasions over nearly three decades. The bill will now require President Droupadi Murmu’s signature and at least 50% of the states to approve the amendment to the Constitution.
The Prime Minister also said that those who had kept the women’s reservation bill “hanging” for years finally voted for it due to fear of women’s power. “Those who kept delaying the women’s reservation bill for decades have now supported the bill in Parliament out of compulsion, as they were afraid of you. Your strength compelled them to support the bill,” he told the crowd.
{{/usCountry}}The Prime Minister also said that those who had kept the women’s reservation bill “hanging” for years finally voted for it due to fear of women’s power. “Those who kept delaying the women’s reservation bill for decades have now supported the bill in Parliament out of compulsion, as they were afraid of you. Your strength compelled them to support the bill,” he told the crowd.
{{/usCountry}}India’s women were subjected to injustice all these years after Independence because their hands and legs were tied in the absence of reservation in legislatures, Modi said. “We cannot achieve development without participation of half the population. In the past, either political excuses were made (for not bringing in such a bill) or they (past governments) used to say that not everything is achievable,” he said.
Highlighting the role of his government in improving the lives of women, Modi said: “We had various social stigmas from female infanticide to girls’ illiteracy. We started the ‘Beti Padhao, Beti Bachao’ campaign. We can say proudly that there has been an improvement in the male-to-female sex ratio,” he said.