New Delhi, Apr 2 : Amid indications that the government may bring a bill to increase seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies to implement reservation for women, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Thursday informed the Rajya Sabha that the House will meet again soon to consider the key legislation.
The issue led to a war of words between the treasury and opposition benches, with Leader of House J P Nadda stressing that the government has the right to decide on the timing when a legislation has to be brought in, while Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge accused the government of being a “bully”, and accused the BJP of trying to draw political mileage out of the issue of women’s reservation.
Soon after the Question Hour in the Upper House, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh asked about the government’s plan for adjourning the House, as the Budget session was scheduled to end on Thursday.
Rijiju said that the Upper House would take up the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill and the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill for passing on Thursday, which was scheduled to be the last day of the Budget session of Parliament.
“We have certain bills and important issues, and we have shared this with the Opposition also. We are going to have a very important bill in the next 2-3 weeks,” Rijiju said.
“Today, the government will propose that the House be adjourned, and we will meet very soon; the purpose is known to the members,” he said.
The government has been holding back-channel talks with the Opposition to bring at least two bills to implement the women’s reservation law and delink delimitation from the Census to increase seats in the Lok Sabha from the present 546 to 861.
Ramesh, however, said that the Opposition has demanded that the all-party meeting that the government intends to call should be held once the assembly elections are over, and alleged that the government is pushing the Bill despite the Model Code of Conduct being in place in the poll-going states.
“The government has a single-minded objective – to gain some electoral advantage by passing the bill, violating the Model Code of Conduct… This is wholly objectionable, and all opposition parties want all party meetings to be held after April 29,” he said.
Rijiju, however, replied that the government is bound to fulfil its promise given to the women of the country. “What is important is that we have a bound duty, a commitment which the Parliament of India has given to the women of this nation. This has nothing to do with specific state elections. We must take it forward because we have certain limitations when we look at the time scale,” he said. “Let us not get into politics over this important issue,” the minister said.
Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Khare, meanwhile, said that the Congress is in support of reservation for women in the legislature, but the proposed bills are important and have long-term implications. “We all support reservations for women… Don’t play games on when and how to bring the Bill,” he said.
Rijiju insisted the issue was being politicised by the Opposition, and said, “I am unable to understand why Congress does not want to attend the meeting”.
Sanjay Singh of AAP also accused the government of politicising the issue. NCP (SCP) MP Fauzia Khan questioned if reservations would also be given to women in the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Councils in the states, while RJD’s Manoj Jha questioned the government’s stand on the demand for reservation for SC, ST and OBCs within the seats reserved for women.
Nadda, meanwhile, stressed that it was up to the government to decide the date for the “legislative business”.
“I say with full responsibility, government is competent to decide the date and time for legislative business to be done,” he said.
Kharge questioned why the government had been “sleeping on the Bill” for all this time. “Democracy cannot run as per your wish… If you try to run it as a bully, people will not tolerate, this Parliament would not tolerate it,” he said.
Union Minister Piyush Goyal meanwhile questioned if the Opposition was against providing reservation to women in legislatures.
Ramesh also pointed out that when the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was passed, the government stated it could not be implemented in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls because delimitation was required. The House later began debate on the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill.
