Sonia urges PM to get Women reservation Bill passed in LS

New Delhi, Sept 21: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to take advantage of his government's majority to get the Women's Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha. The Bill has already been passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010. Describing the Bill as 'a significant step forward in the empowerment of women, the Congress president, in a letter written to the Prime Minister last evening, said, 'You may recall that the Rajya Sabha had passed the women's reservation Bill on March 9, 2010. Since then, however, it has been languishing in the Lok Sabha for one reason or another. "I am writing to request you to take advantage of your majority in the Lok Sabha to now get the women's reservation Bill passed in the Lower House as well. The Congress has always and will continue to support this legislation which will be a significant step in the direction of empowerment of women. ' 'You may recall that it was, in fact, the Congress party and its late leader Rajiv Gandhi who first mooted the provision for reservation for women in panchayats and nagarpalikas in the Constitution amendment bills which the Opposition parties thwarted in the Rajya Sabha in 1989 but later were passed by both the Houses of Parliament in 1993, becoming the 73rd and 74th amendments,' Ms Gandhi said in her letter. Addressing a joint press conference here, AICC spokesperson Sushmita Dev, Randeet Ranjan, Shobha Oza, Priyanka Chaturvedi, Khushboo Sunder and Sharmishtha Mukherjee questioned the Prime Minister over the delay in the passage of the Women's Bill in the Lok Sabha. Terming this 'the right time' to get the legislation passed in the Lok Sabha, Ms Dev said, 'The question that we want to ask the PM is why this delay in the passage of the Women's Bill. It has been over three years since the NDA Government came to power at the Centre with a comfortable majority. "We feel that this is the right time to get the Bill passed in Parliament. This is because, even after the passage of the Bill, a series of efforts will be need for the implementation of women's reservation in Parliament and state assemblies. A lot of work will need to be done even after the passage of the Bill in Parliament.' 'Times demand that India must rise to this historical opportunity to ensure truly representative and participative role for 50 per cent of India's population in shaping her (India's) destiny in the 21st Century. Congress party had painstakingly made the efforts to pass Women Reservation Bill through Rajya Sabha yet it did not pass through Lok Sabha, on account of fresh elections. Another opportunity lies with us to rise above political differences to revisit and pass this historical imperative. "I am sure that the PM will ensure that not only is the Bill passed in parliament but its is also fully implemented before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections,' she said. Ms Dev said a delegation of the All Indian Mahila Congress would meet President Ram Nath Kovind to urge him to ensure the passage of the Women's Bill in Parliament at the earliest. 'We have sought time from the President,' she said. Ms Oza said, 'The dream of the late Rajiv Gandhi for reservation for women in Parliament and state assemblies is yet to be realised. The BJP had promise in its manifesto for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections that it would get the Bill passed in Parliament. It has been more than three years since the Modi Government is in power and the Bill is yet to be passed.' She said on May 21 this year, on the death anniversary of the Rajiv Gandhi , they had started a signature campaign to demand passage of the Bill. The campaign ended yesterday. These signatures would be presented to the President by the All Indian Mahila Congress. It was Rajiv Gandhi and Congress again who reshaped participatory Democracy in India by the Constitutional guarantee of Reservation to Women in Panchayats, Panchayat Samiti, Zilla Parishads, Municipal Committee/Councils and Municipal Corporations. Even then regressive forces vehemently questioned the capacity of India's women, but were decisively overruled by the resolve of Rajiv Gandhi. Underlining the commitment of the Congress to the cause of women's empowerment, Ms Dev said, 'During 10 years of UPA, Congress and Ms Gandhi again rewrote history of social justice by ending centuries of discrimination. Right to succession to ancestral property hitherto restricted to male members of the family was undone by recogniding that sons and daughters are equal inheritors and claimants to the family name and property. Naysayers again, criticised Ms Gandhi and Congress for their modern views of putting women on equal footing, yet we proceeded ahead undeterred.' UNI