Parliament Special Session Highlights: Women's reservation bill passed by Lok Sabha

The Minister of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal on Wednesday said that the Bharatiya Janata Party has always been in favour of empowering women. BJP is the first party in the country that in its national convention in Vadodara had decided to give 33 per cent of posts to women in the party.

During the time of Congress, the Women's Reservation Bill never came up for discussion in the Lok Sabha.

When BJP was in opposition, we kept demanding this bill from the government, but Congress, enjoying the pleasure of power, never brought the bill, Meghwal said.On social media, Meghwal also stated that the 'Nari Shakti Vanda'n Bill is an important step towards making India a developed India.

While addressing the Lok Sabha on the Women's Reservation Bill, Meghwal highlighted the salient features. "...This Bill will enhance the dignity of women as well as equality of opportunities. Women will get representation."

On Women's Reservation Bill, Samajwadi Party MP Dimple Yadav says, "If the government's intention is positive and if they think that women should get their rights and respect, then we demand that women of minority and backward class are also included in it... I have asked questions about when the census would happen and if the caste-based census would take place. I also asked when the delimitation process will take place because both are related to each other... The Women's Reservation Bill is dependent on both of these..."

“Modi government wants to increase representation of Savarna women and not Muslim or OBC women. You are decieving the muslim women by not giving them a quota in this reservation,” All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi. 

We will stand with the decision of the INDIA alliance on the Women's Reservation Bill. During the discussion in Parliament, AAP MPs will question the government on the nature of the bill and its implementation. The party will support the bill at the time of voting on it: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will intervene in the debate on the Women’s Reservation Bill today in Lok Sabha.

"I will speak in the Parliament and this is why I have come here," says Rahul Gandhi.

“We welcome that (Women’s Reservation) bill wholeheartedly, but at the same time we know how calculative the BJP is. They were never for women's rights or reservation, but only for electoral purposes they have come out with this bill,” says CPI MP Binoy Viswam on Women’s Reservation Bill.

"Discussions are underway in the Parliament over Women's Reservation Bill, but some opposition parties, including Congress, want to derail it," says Kiren Rijiju, Minister of Earth Sciences, on Women's Reservation Bill.

"...We have made women count. And it is time for you to step up in the opposition, and not mere reduce your words to paper, to speech, but speak with action and support Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam," says Union Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani on Women's Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha.

She added, “Today, those who called it Jumla and said that it happened because they wrote several letters for it, at least they accepted that they kept insulting him (PM Modi) but he read each of their communications and discussed it with them.”

"When this bill was brought, some people said that it is "our bill"...UPA chairman Sonia Gandhi in an article of the proposed bill had said that ‘no seat shall be reserved for women for belonging to SC/ST in the third general elections’.....But the bill brought by this government guarantees reservation to women till 15 years after the implementation of this bill," Smriti Irani says in Parliament.

On Women's Reservation Bill, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale says, "Women's Reservation Bill was pending in Parliament for many years... In many countries, there is a 50 per cent or 60 per cent reservation for women. Attempts were made many times by the Indian government... The bill was introduced in the times of Manmohan Singh and Atal Bihar Vajpayee also... Many times the bill came, but due to a lack of common consensus, it was not passed... To give social justice and political participation to women who are neglected, the decision of Prime Minister Modi is praiseworthy, and I am grateful to him..."

Union Minister of State (Ind. Charge) Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh says, "Our Chandrayaan has cost us just ₹600 Crores whereas the simultaneous lunar mission which didn't prove to be successful costs ₹16,000 Crores. Our scientists working in huge financial constraints admirably made up for that by investing cerebral assets...I have to compliment the scientific community of India. They have given the world the concept of cost-effective space missions...Our Aditya Mission has cost us just about ₹380 Crores...If we did not have the constraints that our scientists confronted, they could have gone much higher..."

“If we look from the perspective of the dignity of the Constitution, then (Goddess) Lakshmi has taken a Constitutional form through this (Women's Reservation) Bill,” says Union minister Smriti Irani in Lok Sabha.

"Today, it is both my pride and my shame that I stand here as a woman in India's Parliament speaking on Women's Reservation Bill. It is my pride that I belong to the All India Trinamool Congress that sends 37 per cent women among its members to Parliament," says TMC MP Mahua Moitra in Lok Sabha.

“In this (Women’s Reservation) they (Centre) should include SC/ST and OBCs. The delimitation condition which has been added, will be done in 2026, and if delimitation will be done in 2026, it will be implemented in 2029. This (Women's Reservation Bill) should be implemented now,” says Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Women’s Reservation Bill.

Extending her party's support to the women's reservation bill, Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday demanded that the quota be implemented immediately and provision be made for reservation for OBC women.

Initiating the debate on the bill from the opposition's side, Gandhi said in the Lok Sabha that any delay in bringing the reservation into effect would be "gross injustice" to Indian women.

"Rajiv Gandhi's dream is only half fulfilled. It will be fulfilled with the passage of this bill. The Congress supports this bill. We will be happy with the passage of this bill but we also have a concern. I want to ask a question. For the last 13 years, Indian women have been waiting for their political responsibilities, and now they are being asked to wait for a few more years -- two years, four years, six years, eight years," the former Congress chief said.

On claims by Opposition MPs that new copies of the Constitution handed over to them have 'socialist secular' missing from the Preamble, Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Jethmalani says, "This claim does not hold any strength. Congress does not have any agenda so they are taking up small issues...The Law Ministry gave them the original Constitution, it is valuable because the constituent assembly drafted it. And the amendments are there as they should be...There is no issue in this..."

National Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule said that her party would support the Bill on women's reservation in legislation. However, she questioned the timing of the Bill's introduction and its ‘implementation’.

"Nishikant Dubey said that INDIA is on the side of people who ran women down and spoke derogatorily... There was a Head of the BJP in Maharashtra. He told me personally on record on television - 'Supriya Sule ghar jaao, khana banao, desh koi aur chala lega. Hum log chalayenge.' This is what the BJP's mindset is," she further criticised the BJP in the Lok Sabha.

The Rajya Sabha has been adjourned until 2 pm, and the discussion on India's glorious space journey, marked by the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3, will continue after the proceedings resume.

Janata Dal (United) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh said that their party supports the Bill on women's reservation in the legislature saying they believe in women empowerment. But he criticised the timing of the Bill's introduction calling it has a ‘panic reaction’ to the formation of I.N.D.I.A Opposition bloc.

“Our party JD(U) supports the Women's Reservation Bill as we believe in women empowerment. However, this bill is a panic reaction to the formation of INDIA alliance. This bill is a 'jumla' ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls,” Rajiv Ranjan Singh said in Lok Sabha.

“Bihar is the first state where the government was formed in 2005 and in 2006, 50 per cent reservation was given to women. In 2015, the 'mahagathbandhan' government was formed and in 2016, 35 per cent reservation was given to women. Unlike you (central government), we didn't wait for 4.5 years,” he further said. 

Shiromani Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal on the Women's Reservation Bill said, “Devil in the detail came across...The census was to be held in 2021 and now 2023 is about to end and it hasn't been done yet and we don't know when will it happen. After the census, delimitation will take place and then this Reservation Bill will be implemented...Why did you bring this bill when you're not implementing it?... This male-dominated parliament betrayed women and today also it was a betray.” (ANI)

Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy led YSRCP extended their support to the Women's Reservation Bill of 2023 on Wednesday. The Bill is also receiving support from other Opposition parties; however, they are criticising the BJP-led Centre for taking “13 years” to introduce it in the Lok Sabha after it was not passed in 2010, despite being approved in the Rajya Sabha.

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi mentioned that their party is supporting the Bill and emphasised that the Centre should also focus on its implementation.