Women's Reservation Bill and Indian Politics

After passing of the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House of the Parliament), it now looks certain that the bill will be passed in the Lok Sabha (Lower House of the Parliament) and state assemblies, and women will at last get their rightful 33 percent seats in the Parliament and state assemblies. The country had to wait for 14 years for the revolutionary change, which is enough to explain to the people that there was no consensus among political parties to explain to the voter what they paid lip service outside the Parliament.

Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Left parties to come together on one issue was the reflection of political compulsions in which the thinking was that if the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) presents the bill in the Parliament and if the opposition stands like a wall blocking it, then the people of the country will get the impression that the opposition is not ready for the bill.
The opposition had no choice but to support the bill, and because of these compulsions the opposition supported the bill without a murmur, for which very few examples can be found in the country. If this had not been the case, the bill would have gone into cold storage for another three-four years.

New Phase in Country's History
As far as the Congress party is concerned, it was important to get the Women's Reservation Bill accepted. The UPA in its first regime had won two big successes. First it was the Right to Information Bill and the second was the Right to Employment Bill. Along with this was the waiver of farmers' debt, which led to many good consequences. It was because of these bills only that the party had been able to come to power for a second time. In the second phase, it had no important reservation to speak of, which is why it was important for it to get the Women's Reservation Bill passed.

The Rajya Sabha gave a new phase in the country's history on 8 March. Whatever might have been the political compulsions and political reasons for the historical achievement, the credit goes to UPA's chairperson Sonia Gandhi. If she had not taken the initiative, the bill would have remained a dream. By taking a special interest in the matter she showed the nation the victory of this day. If she had not convinced the country of the importance of the bill then it would have remained a mere dream and would not have become a reality. It should be kept in mind that the government took great risk in presenting the bill. If it had not succeeded, then the government would have been surrounded by danger.

Threat to UPA Government
In a similar manner, the government had taken the risk in signing the nuclear agreement with the United States and took the risk of UPA allies withdrawing their support. The opposition gave its support for the Women's Reservation Bill. But after this, in presenting the budget, the government will face tremendous difficulties. The opposition will try and prevent the budget from being passed and this will be an occasion to give the government a tough time.

The other point to be noted is that the two allies of the government, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) must be very angry at the passing of the bill and the manner it has been cooperating with the government will come to an end. In spite of all this, Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took the risk, and today, when the bill has been approved, it faces another danger.

Prestige of Parliament
The Congress, however, should not forget that whatever happened in the Rajya Sabha, it is to be blamed to a large extent, as much as the SP and RJD members are to blame. It is said that its members are better behaved and more polite than the Lok Sabha members. But the fights and the fisticuffs that have taken place here are hard to imagine. The way the members moved to attack the chairperson has caused it great loss of prestige. If the Congress had prepared its allies from before for the passage of the bill then, maybe, all that has happened may not have been a blot on the prestige of the Parliament.

Other incidents happened in the Rajya Sabha, but usually its proceedings were conducted in a dignified manner. It was the responsibility of the Congress to prevent such disrespect to the chair. The country will have to live with this disrespect to the chair, which is unacceptable. As it is the responsibility of the opposition to maintain the dignity of the house, it is the responsibility of the ruling coalition also.