Patna (Bihar) [India], April 7 (ANI): BJP MP Ravi Kishan on Tuesday welcomed the move to implement the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023, saying that this will allow more women MPs to bring forward issues of their constituencies.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju announced that Parliament will convene a special session on April 16 to take up the Women’s Reservation Bill.
Ravi Kishan told ANI, “The Prime Minister’s idea has infused all women with a new energy. Now there will be 33 per cent women’s representation in the Parliament, and they will bring forward the issues of their constituencies. There are about 70 crore women in the nation, and women’s first choice while casting votes is PM Narendra Modi. Reservation for women was important, and I welcome this move.”
However, the Opposition parties have criticised the move as the Bill will do away with delimitation and census pre-requisites to the 33 per cent reservation for women MPs in Lok Sabha, as stated in Article 334A.
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh questioned the timing of the Bill, calling it a move to “divert attention from the grave economic crisis” and influence voters in five poll-bound states.
In a post on X, Jairam Ramesh said, “The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, 2023 was passed unanimously by Parliament in Sept 2023. The Indian National Congress had demanded its implementation from the 2024 election itself. But the Modi Govt introduced a condition that the reservation will come into effect only after delimitation and the census is completed. This is Article 334-A that had got inserted then.”
Jairam Ramesh said that PM Modi is using the government’s latest stance on the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam as an election issue.
“Now, all of a sudden, to divert public attention from the grave economic crisis and in order to influence voters in the five states, the PM has decided that Article 334-A should be amended to do away with delimitation and census pre-requisite. He has woken up after 30 months and done another U-turn. Now he is using this as an election issue. The people in the five states will give him a resounding reply and decisively reject the BJP,” he added.
However, PM Modi has urged Congress to give full support to the proposed amendment to the Women’s Reservation Bill, which would be taken up during the special sitting of the Parliament later this month and said the opposition party should not do politics over the issue. (ANI)