Image for PREHISTORIC BEHAVIOU
New Delhi, March 8: The Congress’ promise of making International Women’s Day a historic occasion by passing the landmark Women’s Reservation Bill hit a roadblock amidst unruly scenes, repeated adjournments and vehement opposition by the Samajwadi Party, RJD and LJP members in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. Copies of the bill were torn up and tossed away by protesting
members. Some members even tried to attack Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari, snatching a copy of the bill from him, tearing it up and flinging the shreds at him.
Voting on the legislation had to be deferred till Tuesday, effectively scuttling Congress president and UPA convenor Sonia Gandhi’s wish that the country’s womenfolk be given this “gift” of 33 per cent reservation of seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislatures appropriately on International Women’s Day.
However, in an indication that the government is still keen to push the bill through, it issued a second whip to all its Rajya Sabha members on Monday evening asking them to be present in the Upper House to vote for the proposed legislation. But Monday’s developments clearly point to the fact that the controversial bill is in the doldrums once again.
The SP and RJD, resorting to the politics of blackmail, have threatened to withdraw support if the government tries to “bulldoze its way” to pass the bill in its present form. They ensured that in the Lok Sabha, too, normal proceedings remained stalled, forcing an adjournment of the House no less than five times, the fifth time for the day. The RJD is particularly worried as it has to face Assembly polls in Bihar later this year and its chief, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, also sought the “intervention” of President Pratibha Patil to settle the issue.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is expected to hold an all-party meeting and also meet the leaders of the RJD, SP and JD(U) separately on Tuesday morning before the bill is put to vote. The bill, incidentally, is listed as the first item of business in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. RJD leader Lalu Yadav, a staunch opponent of the bill, met President Pratibha Patil to brief her on his party’s stand on the proposed legislation. RJD leaders later maintained that the meeting had nothing to do with the party’s threat to withdraw support but was meant to apprise the President about the “real India”.
Earlier on Monday, the Congress spin doctors — finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and Mr Ahmed Patel, political secretary to Congress chief and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi — also had one-on-one meetings with the allies opposing the bill. The Trinamul Congress has indicated that it was in favour of a “full” consensus on the bill. The Congress core group, which met Monday night, decided to adopt a wait and watch approach.
The government finds itself in a tricky situation as the passage of the finance bill appears to be threatened with the SP and RJD claiming to withdraw support over the bill. While the SP has 21 members in the Lok Sabha, the RJD has four. The BSP, which has a strength of 21 in the Lok Sabha, is against the bill in its present form and wants a discussion on the issue. Taken together, without the outside backing of the three parties, the support for the Congress-led UPA would be reduced to a wafer-thin majority just above the halfway mark of 272 in a House of 543.
Pouncing on the opportunity, the BJP, which has been supporting the bill, made it clear it would oppose voting without a discussion. “It’s a Constitution amendment bill and such an important issue should not be pushed through without proper discussion.” CPI national secretary and Rajya Sabha member D. Raja also echoed similar sentiments.
As the government failed to push through the legislation, fingers were pointed at the parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal for “poor floor management”. The government, it appeared, was caught completely unprepared. There was also not much exercise to rope in the leaders opposing the bill even after repeated adjournments. Mr Jaitley attacked the Congress-led UPA government for “poor floor management”. The Congress was also accused of developing “cold feet”. Proponents of the bill put the support for it in at nearly 200 in a House of 245.
Mr Lalu Yadav said his party was “also fighting in favour of those Congress MPs who are against the bill”. There were whispers that the Congress was not in a hurry to push through the legislation before the passage of the Finance Bill. However, unlike the RJD and SP, united in opposing the bill, there was a vertical split in the JD(U) over the issue. While the party’s Rajya Sabha MPs rallied behind it, and while Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar supports the bill in its present form, the majority of the JD(U) Lok Sabha MPs (17 of 20 MPs) backed party president Sharad Yadav, who has been opposing the bill. Amidst pandemonium, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned six times through Monday and voting on the bill was finally deferred to Tuesday after the House reconvened at 6 pm.
As the Rajya Sabha convened around 11 am, the SP and RJD members started raising slogans and demanded immediate implementation of the Ranganath Mishra Commission report. They described the women’s bill as “anti-minority”. Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari adjourned the House till 12 noon. The House was again adjourned till 2 pm as the RJD and SP MPs continued to create trouble.
Chaos prevailed immediately after the bill was tabled at 2 pm. SP leader Kamal Akhtar got atop the Rajya Sabha reporters’ table in the middle of the Well of the House while Nand Kishore Yadav and Rajneeti Prasad of the RJD tore up copies of the legislation. In a shocking incident, the protesting members also tried to attack the Chairman of the House, Mr Ansari, soon after bill was tabled by Union law and justice minister M. Veerappa Moily. They snatched the bill from Mr Ansari’s hand, tore it to shreds and flung the pieces at him. An infuriated Chairman of the House adjourned proceedings till 3 pm. He did not return to the House after that. After five adjournments, the House was wound up for the day at 6 pm without the bill being taken up.
Though the number of marshals on the floor of the House had been increased, the Treasury benches seemed reluctant to use any strong tactics against the protesting MPs.
Referring to Monday’s development, Mr Moily said the Bill “is a Constitution amendment bill and that is why the process has to go on. We don’t want to bulldoze it.”
Age Correspondents
