Women’s reservation bill stuck because: How clear is the intention of the parties, elections on 13 seats of Rajya Sabha today, only 4 women in the contest

The results of the assembly elections held in five states of the country have been declared. Among the members who won the assembly elections, the number of women is significant. At the same time, for 13 seats of Rajya Sabha, biennial elections will be held on 31 March i.e. today. In the contest for 13 seats, only 4 women are in the fray. In such a situation, some questions arise that why despite the big claims and promises of bringing women into politics, why are the numbers still small? Why the Women’s Reservation Bill could not be passed even after almost three decades? Is the intention of the parties not clear regarding this? Read Woman Bhaskar’s report…

The biennial elections to be held today for 13 Rajya Sabha seats, two in Assam and three in Kerala. At the same time, elections are to be held on one seat each in Himachal, Nagaland and Tripura and five seats in Punjab. In this contest, Rani Narhi of Congress from one seat in Assam, JB Mather of Congress from one seat in Kerala, Fangannon Konyak of BJP from Nagaland and Jharna Das Vaidya of Communist Party from Tripura.

Women crossed ‘AAP’, yet forgot sir
In the recently held assembly elections in five states, all parties talked about giving preference to women. Made many promises and claims for women. In the manifesto of all the parties, there was mention of reservation for women, but still the bill could not be passed. If we talk about the assembly elections, then 93 women contested in Punjab, out of which 13 won the assembly. Among the winners, the maximum number of 11 women are from the Aam Aadmi Party. Despite this, AAP has not nominated any woman candidate for the Rajya Sabha.

Where is the screw stuck?
According to Prof. Ashutosh Kumar, Head of the Department of Political Science, Panjab University, the initiative to bring women’s reservation bill was initiated to increase the participation of half the country’s population in making laws at the national level. A provision was made in this that one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and the Legislative Assemblies, i.e. 33 percent, would be reserved for women. However, there is no mention of how many women political parties will have to give tickets in this bill. Despite this, those protesting feel that urban women will come to Parliament and dictate to us. Dalit and backward women will be further left behind.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Women’s Reservation Bill
Benefit: Political expert Ashutosh says that if the Women’s Reservation Bill becomes law, then the full participation of half of the country’s population will be seen while making the law. Issues related to women will be taken up on priority in Parliament. While making laws, women will be given full attention, whereas at present women are ahead of men in voting, but still they are sidelined while making laws.

Harm: After the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill, one-third of the seats in the Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha will be reserved for women only. In such a situation, the people of the political family can take their daughters and daughters-in-law from here, due to which the trend of familyism in politics will increase further. However, it is not that women will only contest elections in Lok Sabha and assembly elections and their father or husband will work. A vivid example of this is BJP leader in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly Dayashankar Singh and his wife Swati Singh. Swati may have entered politics to save her husband’s politics, but she proved herself and performed her responsibility as a minister in the Yogi government.

What is the logic of 33 per cent ticket in the party?
Political expert Ashutosh says that now parties ignore women faces while giving tickets, when women’s reservation will be implemented, more and more women will be fielded by the parties to fill one-third women seats in the assembly and Lok Sabha. In the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha, if 33 percent reservation is given to women, will the seats be reserved and the seats will remain vacant if women candidates are not available? In response to this, Ashutosh says that no, no party would like to have a lesser majority in the Parliament. So the parties will think of giving more than 33 per cent tickets to women.

History of Women’s Reservation Bill

UPA-2 was passed in Rajya Sabha
In March 2010, during UPA-II, Congress President Sonia Gandhi took the initiative to get this bill passed in the Rajya Sabha. The Manmohan Singh government had hoped that the way the bill has been passed in the Rajya Sabha, it would be passed in the Lok Sabha as well, but it did not happen.

MPs protesting outside the Parliament to implement the Women’s Reservation Bill.-File photo Sometimes the women’s reservation bill was opposed by saying that it would promote ‘proxy culture’ and sometimes the ‘sarpanch husband’ would increase, it was shown. 26 years have passed since the first introduction in the Parliament, but why are political parties still unable to unite on giving 33% reservation to women.

Record women MPs in Lok Sabha, the role of regional parties is important
Professor Ashutosh says that at present the number of women in the Lok Sabha is a record 13 percent. However, regional parties have a role to play in this more than the BJP and the Congress. Of course, the Women’s Reservation Bill could not be passed, but Biju Janata Dal and Trinamool Congress fielded women in one-third of the seats while giving election tickets. This time Congress also adopted the same policy in the assembly elections.

Why the government still could not pass the bill in majority?
Political satirist Alok Puranik says that not only the government on the Women’s Reservation Bill, assume that nobody’s intention is clear. Our society is patriarchal. Be it Congress, SP or Akali Dal, the command of most political parties has been in the hands of one family. Politicians consider parties as their heritage and unfortunately in our country, the legacy is still passed on to sons and not daughters. For example, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s relationship with his sister YS Sharmila deteriorated simply because she wanted a share in her father’s political legacy by moving away from her brother’s shadow. Apart from this, there are many leaders including Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, whose sons are active in politics and daughters are not. They say that the BJP has a majority, but there are many leaders within the party who do not want the bill to be passed. In such a situation, the party does not want to upset its leaders.

Alok Puranik says that political parties do not give tickets to advance women. They pretend to prove themselves to be friendly to women. Talking about the BJP, it is true that the party tried, but women leaders in the BJP have come ahead of their potential, they have not been given any reservation or concession. Congress President Sonia Gandhi also gave priority to Rahul Gandhi.

Congress leader Alka Lamba and others protesting for the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill. India ranks 148 out of 193 countries in terms of representation of women in Parliament. At present, there are 81 women MPs in the Lok Sabha. This number is the highest ever in the history of the House. The first Lok Sabha had only 24 women members.

Women MPs raised their voice
From time to time, women MPs have been raising their voices for the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill. These women MPs include late BJP leader Sushma Swaraj, former Communist Party of India MP Brinda Karat, Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi and Congress leader Alka Lamba.