New Delhi: The 14-year journey of the
Women`s Reservation Bill was marked by high drama and hit
roadblocks in each of its outings in Parliament before the
historic measure cleared the first legislative hurdle today.
The battle for greater representation to women in Lok
Sabha and state Assemblies was routinely punctuated by frayed
tempers and war of words which sometimes got physical, as
different governments since 1996 tried to get the Women`s
Reservation Bill passed in Parliament without success.
The Bill also lapsed each time the House was dissolved
and was reintroduced by the Government of the day.
The pathbreaking Bill greenlighted by the Rajya Sabha
after some hiccups to create legislative history was first
introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Deve Gowda government on
Sept 12, 1996.
Snatching of Papers from presiding officers and
Ministers and scuffles became a familiar scene each time the
Bill made its way to Parliament before it was aborted.
Once, Union minister Renuka Chowdhury pushed a Samajwadi
member away when a Samajwadi member tried to snatch a copy of
the Bill from her Ministerial colleague H R Bhardwaj in the
UPA government`s first term when it was being introduced.
Bharadwaj also took his seat between two women ministers
and was guarded by some women MPs to ward off any attack on
him by some opposition members.
And the opposition to the Constitution Amendment Bill to
reserve one-third of seats in the Legislatures hit a nadir
yesterday when some opposition members tried to attack Rajya
Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari and disrupted tabling of the Bill.
The opposition to the Bill had its own share of lows
when JD(U) veteran Sharad Yadav, a critic of the legislation,
asked in June 1997, "Do you think these women with short hair
can speak for women, for our women..."
In the Bill`s previous foray on May 6, 2008, a resolute
government introduced the legislation in the Rajya Sabha yet
another time amid high drama and scuffles between members.
With Congress Parliamentarians providing protective
cover, Law Minister H R Bhardwaj introduced the Bill in the
midst of Samajwadi Party members trying to snatch its copies
from the hands of the Minister.
Samajwadi members stormed the well soon after the House
resumed at noon in an apparent attempt to stall introduction
of the Bill, which they have been opposing along with JD(U).
However, the disruptions could not dissuade the
government from going ahead and introducing the Bill.
As agitated SP member Abu Asim Azmi and his party
colleagues tried to snatch the Bill copy from Bhardwaj,
Congress members intervened and Renuka Chaudhary, then the
Women and Child Development Minister, repulsed the attempts by
pushing Azmi away.
Expecting trouble, Bharadwaj was seated in the middle row
of the treasury benches flanked by two women ministers -
Kumari Selja and Ambika Soni. On top of it, Congress women
Parliamentarians Jayanti Natarajan and Alka Balram Kshatriya
guarded Bharadwaj from SP members who had taken the position
for the go.
Top leaders, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
Leader of Opposition Jaswant Singh, were witness to the high
drama. Several Lok Sabha lawmakers were also seated in the
gallery.
"Take back the Women`s Reservation Bill" was among the
slogans raised by the SP members from the well of the Rajya
Sabha.
After the Bill introduced by the Deve Gowda government on
September 12, 1996 failed to get approval in Lok Sabha, it was
referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee chaired by Geeta
Mukherjee, which presented its report to the Lok Sabha on
December 9, 1996.
Atal Bihari Vajpayee`s NDA government re-introduced the
bill in 1998 the 12th Lok Sabha.
When Law minister M. Thambidurai rose to introduce the
bill on July 13, 1998 RJD MP Surendra Prasad Yadav goes to the
well of the House, snatches it from Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi
and tears it to bits.
The NDA government re-introduced the bill in the 13th Lok
Sabha in 1999.
It moved the Bill again amid pandemonium in 2002 and
Left parties and the Congress give assurances to support the
bill if it is taken up.
The Bill was introduced twice in Parliament in 2003 and
after an all-party meeting, BJP spokesperson Vijay Malhotra
said, "We want the Bill passed in this session itself, with or
without consensus".
In May that year, at an all-party meeting, Speaker
Manohar Joshi announced deferring of the Bill. Protesting MPs
rush to the well of the House during Question Hour, saying
they would never allow the Bill to be passed in the present
form.
Just before the Lok Sabha elections in 2004, Vajpayee
blamed Congress for stalling the Bill and said BJP and its
allies would pass the legislation after getting a decisive
mandate in 2004 elections.
In 2004, the UPA government includes it in the Common
Minimum Programme, which said: "The UPA government will take
the lead to introduce legislation for one-third reservations
for women in Vidhan Sabhas and in the Lok Sabha."
In 2005, BJP announced complete support for the bill.
Subsequently, it yields to the objections of Uma Bharati and
several others within the party, who stress on quota within
quota for women on caste basis.
In 2008, the government tabled the bill in the Rajya
Sabha so that the legislation does not lapse.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Justice,
and Personnel recommended passage of the Bill in Dec 2009.
The Bill was cleared by the Union Cabinet on February 25,
2010.
-PTI
