Union Cabinet Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday applauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts on the women’s reservation bill and said September 19 will be considered as a historic day when Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was introduced. “If we look from the perspective of the dignity of the Constitution, then (Goddess) Lakshmi has taken a Constitutional form through this (Women’s Reservation) Bill,” Irani began her speech.
Hitting back at the Congress who has been claiming the credit for the Bill, Irani said, “When this bill was brought, some people said that it is “our bill”…UPA chairman Sonia Gandhi in an article of the proposed bill had said that “no seat shall be reserved for women for belonging to SC/ST in the third general elections…..But the bill brought by this government guarantees reservation to women till 15 years after the implementation of this bill….” and added, “…We have made women count. And it is time for you to step up in the opposition, and not mere reduce your words to paper, to speech, but speak with action and support Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam.”
The women’s reservation bill was the first bill to be introduced in the new Parliament building on Tuesday which will provide for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
The women’s reservation bill, named Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam and introduced in the Lower House by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, will come into effect only after a delimitation exercise is completed and is, therefore, unlikely to be in force during the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024. It was the first bill to be introduced in the new Parliament building.
Meanwhile, the Congress called it as “jumla” said the women’s reservation bill was another false promise of the BJP-led Union government as it would not come into force at the time of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.Priyanka Chaturvedi, an MP of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, said it was as if the government was `opening the door but not letting anyone in right away’.
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