Within minutes of Congress MP Meira Kumar’s appointment as the first woman Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the long-pending Women’s Reservation Bill issue emerged again in Parliament.
Parties like the CPI(M) and government allies Trinamool Congress and DMK expressed hopes that the Bill, which seeks to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in state Assemblies and Parliament, will be passed soon. The usual opponents of the Bill — Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal — however, made it clear on the very first day that they won’t make the task easy for the new UPA government.
Congress sources too, claim that party president Sonia Gandhi is very keen to pass the Women’s Reservation bill — an unfulfilled dream of Rajiv Gandhi — after her party has come back with 206 seats at its command. “Making Meira Kumar the Speaker is a clear signal that the Congress president wants more empowerment of women in Parliament,” said a top Congress leader. Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal has already announced that the Congress will try to hold the next Lok Sabha election — scheduled in 2014 — with 33 per cent seats reserved for women.
Participating in the motion to thank the newly elected Speaker, senior DMK leader T R Baalu set the tone for the political debate over the Reservation Bill. “This (Kumar’s appointment) will send the right message to the Dalits and women of India. Let us enact the 33 per cent reservation for women. This is the perfect atmosphere to pass this legislation,” Baalu said. The former Union minister soon got support from the Left parties as Basudeb Acharia, the CPI(M) leader in the Lok Sabha, echoed similar sentiments and asked the government to bring in the legislation.
Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee also referred to the issue in her own way, “we are yet to pass the Bill for 33 per cent reservation for women. But madam, there is 100 per cent support for you.”
Although AIADMK didn’t move any motion in favour of Meira Kumar and supported her indirectly, its party leader M Thambidurai offered full support for the cause on behalf of “Amma” J Jayalalithaa. Conditional support in favour of the Bill came from the Shiv Sena. While Lalu Prasad of the RJD and Sharad Yadav of the JD(U) joined the chorus to shower praises on Meira Kumar and her father, late Babu Jagjivan Ram, these two leaders voiced their concerns about the Bill. Sharad Yadav said, “many people have raked up many controversial issues today. This is against the decorum of the House. I can give reply but I will keep it for some other time.”
