Hon. Speaker Sir, I stand
here to support the Bill which has already been implemented
by my leader Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal. West Bengal is the
only State in the country which has a female Chief Minister. I
am sorry to say that in spite of BJP having their rule in 16 States,
at the moment we do not have any woman Chief minister
there. We are actually delighted to witness the realization of our
leader Mamata Banerjee’s vision where women’s rightful entitlements
are being recognized and initiatives are being taken to uphold the vision throughout
the country.100 She passionately
advocated for the implementation of women’s reservation all her
life, right from 1996 when it was120
tabled first. It is the awakening of women of India which awakes
India towards development. West Bengal has boldly demonstrated and spearheaded
a paradigm shift leading the entire nation towards progress. Notably, we have
more women legislators in our Assembly than anywhere else in the
country. We have more women Ministers along with Mamata Banerjee. In the
Lok Sabha right from 2014, we have been having more than 33 per cent
reservation within the Party without any200
forceful reservation being implemented through any Parliamentary
procedure or through the Election Commission. At the moment, in
this august House of Lok Sabha, All India Trinamool Congress has nearly 40
per cent of women Members. This is what Mamata Banerjee240 has done. She has been
implementing different programmes for empowering women towards education,
better health and better administrative positions. It is ironic to note
that despite the concern towards women demonstrated by the NDA Government just
six months before the general elections, none of the 16 States ruled by
them has a woman Chief minister. What took you300 so long? Why was this Bill not tabled in
2014? Why have you brought it just before the elections? What are you
trying to prove to the people? Is it not like a gimmick? Is it not like pulling
out a rabbit from the hat and placing it before the country? Why is
delimitation linked with reservation? It360
is a sinister move and it will have more Members in the
Parliament from States which have failed in population control and which
have poor record in women’s empowerment. Rather than allocating large sums of
money towards construction of structures400
and altering names of places, I would urge my colleagues in BJP to prioritise transformation
of the mindset. It is imperative that they demonstrate genuine respect
for women by aligning their actions with words. Moreover, it is
crucial that they take appropriate action against all individuals who are
harming and showing disrespect towards women. The golden girls of the
country who got us medals have been sexually harassed and they were sitting
at Jantar Mantar but the perpetrator480
sits here today. He has not been brought to book. If you are
really interested in taking care of women500
towards betterment and progress, why do you not take action against the
perpetrators? Why do you not take action against those people who
have been molesting and killing women? I would also like to draw the
attention of the House to the sorry plight of the women labourers
who have job cards. They hold the job cards all over the country through
the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. There are many women who work in
that field but their payment has not been released yet. That is also
insulting the women labourers. So are the researchers and the scientists who600 have been denied their salaries.
I have requested the hon. Minister in the last Session that
they are not getting their stipends. It is a fact. Go and look into the
books. The job card holders are not getting salaries.640 What is the budgetary allocation for
women’s health? This Government should tell us and the whole House about the
extra budgetary allocation for reproductive health of women in the
country. The women and their children need it and not the men. So, women
require this extra budgetary allocation for their reproductive health. Do this
first before bringing the Bill. You700
have tabled the Bill. If you are so much interested in the welfare of
women, this Bill should have come720
in 2014 when you came to power, and not before the elections.
Hon. Chairman Sir, on behalf
of the Congress party, I am extremely happy to take part in this
discussion and to support the Women’s Reservation Bill. We
cannot speak about the Women’s Reservation Bill without mentioning the
name of Shri Rajiv Gandhi. But I am pained to say that the hon. Prime
Minister of India does not have this magnanimity in
mentioning his name. I think800
it would be apt to share my simple political experience here.
Twenty-five years ago, after completing my college education, I had returned to
my native place. In my village, the Dalit people were not getting drinking
water facilities. I believed840
at that tender age that if I were in power, I could have brought a
change. We could not even imagine about empowerment of women 25 years
ago. At that time, Shrimati Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister and was
ruling this country, yet empowerment of women was seen as an unwanted
thing. I was just an ordinary young900
lady. I was not even having any political background. Moreover, I was
from an ordinary family which was into farming. I was brought up by an honest,
determined and widowed mother who faced lots of difficulties in her life.
I didn’t know anyone from politics. In that situation, I craved for
getting into power. I was told that there was960 an opportunity to get into politics and
then to get power. By then, I was told by someone that the local body elections
were to be held within a time span of two months and my Panchayat Union was
reserved1000 for women. I was
not aware of the 73rd and 74th amendments to the Constitution by that time.
Even though I belonged to a family which staunchly supported the Congress
party, I was not even aware of the fact that our great leader Shri
Rajiv Gandhi was responsible for bringing such an amendment to the
Constitution. But I grabbed that opportunity. But there was a strong resistance
from my family because my family was very much afraid of1080 politics and my entering politics.
During that time, people believed that Kaliyug has come, as that constituency
was reserved for1100 women and
only women could contest the elections. But to put it correctly, that so-called
Kaliyug has created opportunities for women to become Panchayat leaders through
the mission and vision of Shri Rajiv Gandhi and his historic
amendment to the Constitution. We are so grateful to him. That journey of mine
which started from Panchayat has now reached Parliament under the able support
and guidance of Shrimati Sonia Gandhi.1170
