Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday accused the Congress of seeking to divide women in the name of caste and by spreading lies, as he launched a fierce counter-attack on the party over its demand of OBC sub-quota in women's reservation in legislatures.
Toughening his stand over the Women's Reservation Bill, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad said on Saturday that he would not bow down to any pressure and continue fighting against the present form of the bill.
"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 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.
Prasad also attacked the previous United Progressive Alliance government for letting the women's reservation bill, introduced by it, lapse.
The former Union minister said all (parties) should keep trying to get the bill passed.
Justice Surya Kant is set to become the 53rd Chief Justice of India, bringing extensive experience and a record of significant verdicts on key issues.
Gandhi also assured support of her party to the legislation, which she said would be a "significant" step forward in the empowerment of women.
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.
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 .
The government said on Friday that the controversial Women's Reservation Bill would be brought for consideration in the Lok Sabha in the Monsoon Session of Parliament -- a move apparently aimed at dividing opposition unity.
Faced with a challenge to his traditional Other Backward Class-Muslim vote base from the ruling National Democratic Alliance in poll-bound Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad appears to be making inclusion of caste in census and opposition to women's reservation bill his major planks to woo the electorate.Strongly pitching for incorporating caste in census, he said opposing it could spark a 'mass agitation'.
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 firebrand OBC leader, who is clearly keen on projecting her status as a backward caste leader, is seeking quotas within the legislation and a thorough discussion in the party on the issue before formulating its stand
On October 14, 1956, Dr B R Ambedkar, fulfilling his long-held vow to renounce Hinduism, embraced Buddhism along with over 500,000 followers at Nagpur's Deekshabhoomi, marking a new era of social and spiritual liberation for India's Dalits.
Plagued by differences, a meeting of Members of Parliament of the Janata Dal-United on Monday failed to take a common stand on the Women's Reservation Bill, but a majority of the party MPs in the upper House are set to vote in favour of the Bill.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday threw its weight behind the Women's Reservation Bill, saying the quota for women in Parliament and state assemblies is an idea whose time has come.
UPA managers say cooling of tempers, passage of Budget are bigger priorities.
Rajya Sabha members Mausam Noor and Priyanka Chaturvedi have written to Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, complaining about 'sloganeering' from the visitors' gallery of the House on September 21 and requesting him to take action in the matter.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal, a key ally in the United Progressive Alliance, on Wednesday strongly opposed the Women's Reservation Bill in its present form. The party did not rule out withdrawing support from the Congress-led coalition at the Centre if its demand for quota within quota, for Dalit and minorities in the legislation, was not conceded. RJD's rigid stand might throw a spanner in the efforts of the UPA to ensure passage of the Bill in the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
Trouble is brewing for the Women's Reservation Bill with a section of the Bharatiya Janata Party Members of Parliament in Lok Sabha expressing their opposition to the measure and threatening to vote against it and the party decided to crack on the dissenters by issuing a whip to them to back it on Thursday.
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.
The home minister further said it has been the tradition of this country for brothers to think about and speak on women's welfare.
Directors Kiran Rao, Nandita Das and Javed Akhtar tell us why they favour the women reservation Bill
'When our daughters, wrestlers Sakshi Malik and Vignesh Phogat, were protesting at the Jantar Mantar, the police kicked them with their shoes.'
Manjhi's son Santosh Suman, who is a minister in the Nitish Kumar cabinet, made the statement a day after reports emerged that a seat-sharing formula has been arrived at in the National Democratic Alliance, and the HAM was likely to get only one of the state's 40 constituencies.
Besides the bills, the government has listed the first batch of supplementary demands for grants for 2023-24 for presentation, discussion and voting during the session.
Chhattisgarh scores the highest among all four states with 21 per cent of its newly elected lawmakers women.
Continuing with his opposition to the Women's Reservation Bill, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh alleged that quota for the fairer sex would impede the progress of backwards and minorities on Friday.
Nitish Kumar has pledged to create 10 million jobs in the next five years apart from offering voters many other sops.
The opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) is a challenge, Union Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dharmendra Pradhan said on Friday, adding he has requested his party to allow him to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from his home state Odisha.
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.
Raising a new demand on the women's bill, Samajwadi Party on Monday sought 50 per cent quota to women in educational institutes as well as jobs.
India, the largest democracy, lags much behind other countries including its neighbours Pakistan and Afghanistan when it comes to participation of the fair sex in politics.
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).
Shivashankarappa made the controversial remark while addressing Congress party workers at Bunts Bhavan in the district recently.
More than ever before, women voters can make or mar a political party's electoral fortunes.
Greenpeace has also launched a petition addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which the organisation claims has been signed by over 21,000 people.
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