Sonia Gandhi, the leader of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP), said on Tuesday that the Union Cabinet’s approval of the long-awaited Women’s Reservation Bill was “ours” in response.
After arriving in Parliament on Tuesday morning, Sonia Gandhi responded vehemently.When asked whether the Women’s Reservation Bill will be brought up in Parliament once again, she said, “It is ours, apna hai.”Her comments came the day after the Union Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the Constitution Amendment Bill, paving the way for the historic bill’s introduction in the current special session of Parliament. The bill would have given women a seat in Parliament and state legislatures.
The Congress, the party’s highest decision-making body, urged in a resolution at the recently finished two-day Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting that the Women’s Reservation Bill be passed during the Parliament Special Session.The approval of the Bill in the Special Session was urged on Monday by Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, NCP leader Supriya Sule, and Congress Leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.
The H.D. Deve Gowda administration originally introduced the bill in 1996, which sought to reserve 33% of seats for women.In 2008, the Constitution (One Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill was reintroduced by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) administration, which is governed by Congress.
The law was approved by the Rajya Sabha in 2010, but it was unable to be approved by the Lok Sabha, and it expired when that body was dissolved in 2014.
