AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi Opposes Women's Reservation Bill, Says 'It Deceives Muslim Community'

NEW DELHI: AIMIM's Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Wednesday opposed the Women's Reservation Bill introduced by the Centre in the Lok Sabha, which is being debated by the Members of Parliament today. Speaking against the bill, the AIMIM leader said, 'The Bill is against the Muslims of India. It deceives the Muslim Community.''

The Hyderabad MP further said, "The Modi government wants to increase representation only for 'savarana' women. This bill will affect the representation of the OBC and Muslim women." "This is a woman deception bill, anti-OBC, anti-Muslim bill," he said in his speech.

Owaisi had on Tuesday expressed his disapproval of the ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’ (women reservation bill) saying that he is against the bill as it does not include the quota for women from the Muslim and OBC communities.

"Who are you giving representation to? Those who don't have representation should be given representation. The major flaw in this bill is that there is no quota for women from Muslim and OBC communities, so we are against it," he told news agency ANI.

“You are making a bill so that there is representation of the underrepresented. Till now, 17 Lok Sabha elections have taken place in which 8,992 MPs have been elected. Out of these, only 520 were Muslims and in this not even a handful were women. There is a deficit of 50%," he said.

However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a strong pitch for the women's reservation bill saying that his government is committed to ensuring that the 'Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam' aimed at expanding women's participation in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies becomes a law, as he urged MPs of both houses of parliament to pass the bill unanimously.

Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced the bill on September 19 in the first sitting of Lok Sabha in the new Parliament building. Meghwal, while introducing the bill, said that once the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is passed, the number of seats for women in Lok Sabha will increase to 181.

The Lok Sabha is discussing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam Bill which was tabled by the Centre for discussion at 11 AM earlier today, after the proceedings of the House began. The 128th Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2023 seeks to reserve 33 per cent seats in Lok Sabha and all state Assemblies for women.