Kavitha to hold protest in Delhi on March 10 pressing for Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament

Hyderabad, March 2 (PTI) BRS leader Kavitha on Thursday announced her decision to hold a one-day hunger strike in New Delhi on March 10 seeking the introduction of Women’s Reservation Bill in the current session of Parliament.

Addressing a press conference here, Kavitha, daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced a peaceful sit-down protest under the aegis of Bharat Jagruthi, an NGO, demanding the tabling of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament.

“As a mark of protest, Bharat Jagruthi will do a sit-down peaceful protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi on March 10. We are inviting women’s organisations and various political parties across 29 states. We are inviting everybody who believes in the empowerment of women, as much as we do,” she said.

Noting that the Women’s Reservation Bill, seeking 33 per cent representation for women in Parliament and Assemblies, continues to be pending for 27 years after first being introduced in 1996, she said four committees were formed to look into this matter, and nothing was ever done on the reports.

The bill, which seeks to reserve one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies, was first introduced in 1996. Thereafter, it was introduced several times. The bill was passed in Rajya Sabha in 2010, but it lapsed after the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha in 2014.

Any bill pending in Lok Sabha lapses with the dissolution of the House. Bills pending in Rajya Sabha are put in the “live register” and remain pending.

“If we want to grow at par with other nations, we demand that the Women’s Reservation Bill be introduced in this session of Parliament. We feel, in women empowerment, political empowerment is a critical aspect. Everyone is talking but no one is protesting on the ground. We want to do it for the women and we are committed for it,” the BRS MLC said.

Referring to the BJP manifesto of 2014 and 2019 general elections, the former MP said the saffron party did not act on it. “At least now you (BJP) should act upon it and make sure the Women’s Reservation Bill is tabled in this Parliament session or the next one,” she urged.

Taking at dig at the Prime Minister, she said Narendra Modi speaks about “Nari Shakti” from the Red Fort, but does nothing for women’s empowerment, which the country has now realised.

Given the majority that the BJP enjoys in the Parliament, if they could pass the three Farm laws (the controversial agriculture reform laws which were subsequently withdrawn), they can certainly push for and pass the Women’s Reservation Bill if they are willing to do the same, Kavitha pointed out.

“It is easy for them. But they are not willing to do. They do not want women to come forward. That is the message we are getting from Narendra Modiji.”

On the vision of the BRS on the issue of the Women’s Reservation Bill, she said the BRS party, under the leadership of Chief Minister KCR passed a resolution in the Telangana Assembly, which stated that whenever Lok Sabha passes the bill, the BRS will support it.

The CM also proposed an alternative solution wherein he suggested an increase in the number of MP seats by 33 per cent to accommodate women to address the insecurities of leaders and parties and paving way for the soft passing of the Women’s Reservation Bill, she recalled.

Kavitha castigated the BJP led Centre on matters of governance and said when anybody reminds the saffron party of its ‘failures,’ suddenly all the institutions are activated against that voice but why are they silent on Adani issues despite several reports.

“Were LPG rates increased to divert attention from Adani’s issue?” she asked.

“Curbing information flow, freedom, and freedom of expression is the sad reality of India under the BJP today. Across the nation there is an opinion today that there is an undeclared emergency in this country” she alleged, reacting to a query.

She reiterated that BRS has always been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate Adani group issue.

Kavitha hailed the Supreme Court ruling on the appointment of election commissioners.

“I believe that the Election Commission has been freed from the clutches of BJP and Narendra Modi. A strong message was going that it was not functioning independently looking at various instances. I hope the court’s order will be adhered to,” she said.

The BRS leader asked the Congress party to shed its “arrogance” and then talk about election strategy with everybody (other political parties) if it was keen on ousting the BJP from power in 2024.
“We are keen and we are talking to all political parties and are committed to oust the BJP in 2024. If that is the intention of Congress let them work, let them come up with a strategy then we will see,” she added.