The fight over the Women's Reservation Bill will continue as there is no dilution in the Rashtriya Janata Dal's stand on it, party supremo Lalu Prasad said on Friday."The fight will continue and there will be no dilution of our stand on the women's quota issue," Lalu told reporters outside Parliament.He said his party was not against reservation for women "but there should be reservations for Dalits, Muslims and other backward women who are struggling in the fields."
The government has given the Yadavs opposing the Women's Reservation Bill a face saver by which they can withdraw their agitation in the Lok Sabha and allow the House to function, and in return, the government has promised them nothing more than a dialogue and time to discuss the bill with Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, not even promising them an all party meeting.
Congress Member of Parliament from Bihar Mohd Asraul Haque created a flutter in party circles on Thursday by demanding that the interests of "all sections of society" should be taken into account before passing the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha.
The Trinmool Congress, fuming over the manner in which the Women's Reservation Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, has claimed that the Congress 'cheated' their leader Mamata Banerjee over the issue."Till the last moment, we were kept in the dark. Congress leaders didn't show us their cards till the last moment. This is not the way to treat allies," said Minister of State for Health Dinesh Trivedi.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday defended her party's decision to abstain from voting on the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha, but said she was in favour of the constitutional amendment.
The passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday has not ended the problems of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).
Describing the Women's Reservation Bill as a 'giant step' towards the empowerment of women, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said in the Rajya Sabha that the measure was not anti-minority and anti-Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe. Dr Singh also expressed 'profound apology' to Chairman Hamid Ansari for the disrespect shown to the Chair by members in the House over the past two days. "On behalf of the government, I owe you a profound apology," Dr Singh said to Ansari.
Upset over the 'manner' in which the government got the Women's Reservation Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha, an angry Trinamool Congress on Tuesday accused it of buckling under Left pressure and not trusting its own ally.
There was shock within the non-Congress Members of Parliament to see how the government remained inactive within the Rajya Sabha when the Women's Reservation Bill was tabled on Monday.
A meeting of political parties supporting the Women's Reservation Bill on Tuesday failed to evolve a strategy on its passage in Rajya Sabha, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and Left parties demanding that a discussion be held before voting.The meeting was called by leader of Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee to discuss a strategy to ensure smooth passage of the Constitution amendment bill.Sources said the meeting failed to reach a consensus on the passage of the proposed law.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh will meet Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav on Tuesday morning over the Women's Reservation Bill.
A cornered government faced flak from the BJP which today sought to make political capital out of its failure to get Women's Reservation Bill passed in the Rajya Sabha by accusing it of developing a cold feet after SP and RJD threatened to withdraw support. Both BJP and CPI(M) said the government should have convened an all-party meeting on the issue earlier.
Unfazed by Monday's developments in the Rajya Sabha, President Pratibha Patil said that it will be 'graceful' if the Women's Reservation Bill is passed after consultation 'as far as possible.'
"The government should have a roadmap and strategy for passing such an important bill. We are not in favour of passing such a vital bill without a discussion. It (a discussion) is a requirement for a Constitutional Amendment as the basic structure of the Constitution will change," Deputy Leader of BJP in Rajya Sabha S S Ahluwalia said.
The Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal disrupted Question Hour in Rajya Sabha on Monday over implementation of Ranganath Misra Commission report on minority welfare, leading to adjournment of the House till noon.
The decision by SP, with 21 members in Lok Sabha, and RJD with four will, however, have no impact on the stability of the UPA government. The SP and the RJD were outside supporters of the government.
The government expressed confidence over passage of Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament on Monday, saying though it did not want to "bulldoze" those opposing it, but they should understand that equality was a fundamental right.
The 71-MP strong ruling Congress is determined to push ahead with the Constitution amendment bill on Monday in the Rajya Sabha, which has an effective strength of 233, coinciding with the International Women's Day.
The government may table the two key Bills on women's reservation and food security soon in Parliament to take the wind out of the Opposition sails.The Women's Reservation Bill, aimed at providing one-third reservation to women candidates in state Assemblies and Parliament, is bound to split the Opposition. The Food Security Bill, which will provide 25 kg of rice or wheat at Rs 3 per month to families below the poverty line, will be showcased as the government's effort.
Even as the big prize of pushing through the women's reservation bill providing 33 per cent reservation for women in parliament and state assemblies continues to remain elusive, the United Progressive Alliance government is going full steam ahead in empowering women at the lower level.
Thus it was that for the first time in the history of the republic a constitutional amendment was announced and passed by Parliament within 72 hours, reports R Rajagopalan.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar denied any differences with Janata Dal-United president Sharad Yadav and said he would meet him when he would go to Delhi for a meeting with Prime Minister Singh as a member on the Core Group seeking a consensus on Women's Reservation Bill.
Vice President Hamid Ansari's wife Salma says she has a "problem" with the Women's Reservation Bill and feels that it will not be of much help unless awareness is created among women at the grassroot level.
Giving women an increased share in legislatures may be a good idea but it would have been better had the Manmohan Singh ministry applied a little more thought before placing the bill in Parliament.
The Samajwadi Party said not a single male would be elected to the Lok Sabha ten years after the Women's Reservation Bill came into force and advocated a quota for the fair sex within political parties. "Once the bill comes into force, not a single male would be elected to the Lok Sabha after ten years as elected women would not leave their seats, nor will the political parties be in a position to replace them," Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav said .
Shiv Sena, an ally of the National Democratic Alliance which voted for the Women's Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha, said on Wednesday, that it will oppose it if marshals were called in and force was used to pass the measure in Lok Sabha.
Preparing for the second phase of the battle on the women's reservation bill, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has called her partymen for a dinner on Thursday to 10 Janpath to give them a pep-talk on the women reservation bill amid reports that a number of MPs are unhappy with the amendment.
On the issue of no-trust motion, Lalu Prasad, whose RJD has four members in the Lower House, said, "There is no such decision. It is wrong information. We have only four MPs and, therefore, where is the question of no-confidence motion."
The Bharatiya Janata Party said on Tuesday it will not vote on the Women's Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha without a discussion on it.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said on Tuesday that the government forced them to behave badly in Parliament by tearing the Women Reservation Bill copy.
The bill was passed with 165 voting in favour and 7 against it.
The government hailed the consensus among major political parties on the Women's Reservation Bill on Sunday and said no single party could claim credit for it.
Political pundits, sociologists, political scientists, feminists and historians and almost everybody has said that if the bill becomes an act then it will be the biggest socio-political news since independence. This will have the impact bigger than the Mandal Commission that gave reservation to lower castes and it will go deeper than the Ayodhya movement that attempted to ignite Hindu identity cutting across caste barriers.
So keen is Congress President Sonia Gandhi to have the women's reservation bill passed in the Rajya Sabha that she told women MPs of her party who met her during on Thursday that "even if they have to snatch papers and tear them" they must do so to ensure that the bill is passed in the upper house of Parliament.
The Samajwadi Party today opposed the proposed Women's Reservation Bill, terming it as a "conspiracy" against the leaders who have reached the Lok Sabha through "hard struggles" and warned of people's movement if the UPA pushes the legislation.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's wife Gursharan Kaur wants the women reservation bill passed "to give the Indian women equal opportunities".
Women's representation in government jobs is less than 15%.
After threatening to consume poison if the Women's Reservation Bill is passed by the Parliament in its current form, Janata Dal - United chief Sharad Yadav on Saturday demanded separate quota for those belonging to the backward castes. "I am not asking for a reservation of 33 per cent (for women), it could be even 50 per cent. But ground realities should not be overlooked. Weaker sections among women face more difficulty," he said.
Giving a new twist to his campaign against the Women's Reservation Bill, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday said the SP wanted only 20 per cent quota and that too not for seats but for political parties to give tickets for the fair sex.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Wednesday described the women's reservation Bill as a very dangerous idea that could change the Lok Sabha's look.
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