Women's Reservation push: Govt 'masterstroke' or political gambit before polls?
India Today
The amendment to the women's reservation bill has intensified political debate amid upcoming elections and concerns over parliamentary changes.
It was the month of March and the Budget Session was in full swing. As the end was nearing, murmurs grew louder that there could be something special up the government’s sleeve. Suspense was building over what could be on the platter as Parliament geared up for a working weekend on March 28–29.
The power corridors were abuzz with talk of closed-door meetings being held by Union Home Minister Amit Shah with smaller political parties, while bigger players in the opposition like the Congress were kept out of the loop.
However, it turned out to be a bit of an anti-climax as government sources hinted that perhaps the weekend would be an off day indeed, and ambiguity prevailed over the fate of expediting the amendment to the Women’s Reservation Act.
When India Today asked one of the senior leaders in the NDA government whether the government had shelved the plan because the Congress and other opposition parties had protested against hurrying the crucial amendments, he confidently replied,“Have you ever seen the NDA go on the back foot? So what if the opposition doesn’t want it? You wait and see—this will happen within a few weeks, right in the middle of April."
It was a moral win for the opposition as the House was adjourned without being declared sine die, which meant that the Budget Session had not formally concluded.
For a while, the government underplayed any chance of having a three-day special discussion on the Women’s Reservation Act. Just when the opposition was drenched in campaign fever, the government pulled a rabbit out of the hat, announcing special dates from March 16 to 18 for its much-anticipated game-changing move, bringing it under the spotlight.
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