The Women’s Reservation Bill has put the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc in a spot, with almost all member parties expected to come out in support of the legislation, although they are trying to discount the political capital that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP hope to earn from it by pointing out the rider in the Bill, which says that its implementation depends on the delimitation exercise scheduled for 2026.
Two of the Bill’s biggest critics, who had stalled it in 2010 — the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) — continue to maintain their demand for a “quota within the quota” for Other Backward Classes (OBC). But unlike in 2010, they have not yet announced their opposition to the Bill.
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SP president Akhilesh Yadav in a post on X (formerly Twitter) said: “Women’s reservation should be a balance of gender justice and social justice. In this, reservation for backward, Dalit, minority, tribal (PDA) women should be clear in definite percentage form.”
Detailing their stand further, the party’s Rajya Sabha MP Javed Ali Khan said, the party does not oppose the Bill. “We know that this government is anti-OBC and that is why there is no point in agitating for a quota for the OBC. We are hopeful when a pro-OBC government is elected, we can suitably amend the Bill,” he said.
RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj K. Jha said that the party welcomed the idea of widest possible representation, but at the same time remains committed to its demand for a quota within the quota. “Paraphrasing Mahatma Gandhi’s remarks on the Cripps Mission, I would say that a post-dated promise of the government has little credibility,” Mr. Jha said. He pointed out that Clause 5 of the Bill states the reservation can be implemented only after delimitation is undertaken.
Other INDIA bloc member parties too came out in support of the Bill, although pointing out the BJP government’s inordinate delay in bringing it. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi N.V.N. Somu called it a victory of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, but wondered why a government that has rammed through various legislations waited for so long to bring this Bill. “For the Bill to become reality, the government will have to first conduct a Census, which is now delayed by over three years,” she said.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) will be supporting the Bill. “We don’t need a piece of legislation to implement reservation for women. One third of our Lok Sabha MPs are already women,” TMC Rajya Sabha floor leader Derek O’ Brien said.
Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena (Udhav Thackeray) said that the Bill was one of the commitments in the 2014 manifesto of the BJP and yet, it took them this long to bring it. “The Bill that they have brought in clearly lacks intent. They are offering reservation for women but with terms and conditions. They are basically saying that queue up for the reservation but we will decide your entry when the time is best suited,” Ms. Chaturvedi said.
She also pointed out that the delimitation exercise could be one of insurmountable problems, since the southern States are already protesting the shrinking of their political influence.
