Members of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), the ruling party in Telangana, held a protest near the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on the Parliament compound on Monday, demanding a Women’s Reservation Bill.
The BRS members held up placards and raised slogans demanding that the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) table the Women’s Reservation Bill in the ongoing Special Session of Parliament.
Earlier, on Sunday, an all-party meeting was held in the national capital with various political parties demanding the passage of a Women’s Reservation Bill in the five-day special session of Parliament.
The special session of the Parliament started on Monday and will continue till Friday.
“We are very happy that the Centre called this short session and has inaugurated the new Parliament building. We have put forward the demand for a Women’s Reservation Bill to be tabled and passed in the ongoing Special Session. The representation of women must increase not just in Parliament but in other legislative bodies as well,” BJD MP Pinaki Misra said after the all-party meeting on Sunday.
Noting that the demand for a Women’s Reservation Bill had been raised in earlier all-party meetings as well, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said the government will proceed in line with its own legislative agenda.
“This demand had been raised in earlier (all-party) meetings as well. However, the government will follow its own legislative agenda. The right decision will be taken at the right time,” he said.
The Women’s Reservation Bill seeks to reserve 33 per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies for women.
Despite being a crucial step towards gender parity and inclusive governance, the Bill has remained in legislative limbo for far too long.