The Women’s Reservation Bill was passed in Lok Sabha with over two-thirds majority and got 454 votes in favour
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said women’s empowerment is “not a political issue” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He asserted that census and delimitation will begin soon after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and appealed to the opposition for unanimous support to the women’s reservation bill, saying shortcomings, if any, can be rectified later.
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In his intervention during the debate in Lok Sabha on the bill for reserving one-third of seats in the Lower House and state assemblies for women, the senior BJP leader pushed back against the Opposition’s criticism for not including an OBC sub-quota, asserting that his party has given more representation to the community than those claiming to speak for them.
The Women’s Reservation Bill was later passed in Lok Sabha with over two-thirds majority and got 454 votes in favour.
Shah highlighted the Modi government’s works for women empowerment from building crores of toilets to opening Jan Dhan Bank accounts and distributing gas cylinders under Ujjawala Yojana.
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Shah said it is a historic leap for the nation as the Lok Sabha passes the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’ today. He said the bill envisaged by PM Modi will not only script a new chapter in the history of women’s empowerment but also foster equitable and gender-inclusive development in our nation.
The constitutional amendment bill, which provides for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
According to the bill, it will come into effect after the delimitation of Lok Sabha constituencies to be carried out after the completion of the next population census.
AMIT SHAH’S TOP QUOTES FROM HIS LS SPEECH:
- While appealing to the opposition, Amit Shah said shortcomings, if any in the bill, can be rectified at a later date.
- Shah said the passage of the women’s reservation bill will mark the start of a new era, and recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had presented the vision of women-led development at the recent G20 Summit.
- The Home Minister said the Modi government has been pushing for empowerment of women since the day it assumed office. Women’s security, respect and equal participation have been life force of the government, he said.
- Shah said this was the fifth attempt to push a bill for women’s reservation. “Why did it fail to clear hurdles earlier? First it was brought by H D Deve Gowda government in 1996. It lapsed. Second time, it was brought by the government under Atal Bihari Vajpayee. In 2008, a bill was brought by UPA. It also lapsed after the dissolution of the then Lok Sabha.”
- Reacting to Rahul Gandhi’s OBC remark, Shah said that 29% BJP MPs are from the OBC community. He further added 29 ministers in the Modi cabinet are also OBCs. As many as 365 out of 1358 MLAs (27%) of the BJP are from OBC community and 62 BJP MLCs out of 163 (40%), Shah said.
- Shah said Congress ruled for over five decades in this country, but there were 11 crore families who were deprived of toilets. “They gave ‘gareebi hatao’ slogan but couldn’t make any arrangements for the poor. When a house doesn’t have a toilet, then the most affected ones are the daughters, sisters and mothers,” he said.
- On delay in the bill’s implementation, Shah said, “There are many questions as to why so late, why OBC is not included etc. I will answer all these questions. The Delimitation Commission is a quasi-judicial body that plays a crucial role in our elections. Now if 1/3 of seats have to be reserved, who will decide these seats? If Wayanad gets reserved for women, what will you say? If Hyderabad gets reserved, what will Owaisi sahib say? It’s best that this happens only after following proper procedure.”
- Shah said the next government will conduct the census and the delimitation exercise immediately after the elections and set in motion the process to make reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state Assemblies a reality.
