Ahead of the monsoon session that begins on Monday, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has raised the demand of bringing the long-pending Women’s Reservation Bill to Parliament.
The Bill that seeks to reserve one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in May 2008 by the UPA government and was referred to a standing committee. In 2010, it was passed in the House and transmitted finally to the Lok Sabha. The Bill lapsed with the 15th Lok Sabha.
“It’s time we bring the Women’s Reservation Bill. The BJP, in its election manifestos of 2014 as well as 2019, had promised to bring in the Bill. So why have they not delivered so far,” TMC’s Parliamentary Party leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’ Brien said on Friday.
The TMC, among other issues, would raise this in the monsoon session, he asserted.
Mr. O’ Brien pointed out that 41 per cent of the party’s members of the Lok Sabha and 36 per cent in the Rajya Sabha were women. In contrast, only 14 per cent of the BJP members of the Lok Sabha and 11 per cent in the Rajya Sabha were women. Overall, only 14 per cent of the Lok Sabha members were women.
Need for more women MPs
Reacting to the Cabinet expansion, following which the number of women Ministers now stands at 11 in Narendra Modi’s Council of Ministers, Mr. O’ Brien said it was only for a showcase. For any real change on the ground, more women MPs have to be elected to both Houses of Parliament.
This is the first session since the results of four State Assemblies and one Union Territory were announced on May 2. The TMC trounced the BJP in West Bengal to return for the third time. During the campaign,its leaders had called out Mr. Modi for his “misogynist” campaign against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, especially his “Didi-o-Didi” call in his speeches.