Take advantage of majority, pass women's quota bill: Sonia tells PM

New Delhi: Congress President Sonia Gandhi has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take advantage of his majority in the Lok sabha and pass the much-delayed Women’s Reservation Bill that seeks to grant 33% quota to the fairer sex in Parliament and state legislatures.

In a letter to Modi, Gandhi also assured support of the Congress in passing the legislation which she said would be a “significant step forward in the empowerment of women”. “I am writing to request you to take advantage of your majority in the Lok Sabha to now get the Women’s Reservation Bill passed in the Lower House as well,” Gandhi said in the letter, dated September 20.

She recalled that the Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010, and had “languished” in the Lok Sabha for “one reason or the other. Congress leaders Sushmita Dev, Shobha Oza, Sharmishtha Mukherjee, Kushboo Sundar and Priyanka Chaturvedi addressed a joint press conference to announce Gandhi’s letter to the prime minister.

“The prime minister is known to be a keen believer in Navratra. He has been talking about empowerment of women. I hope the prime minister will walk the talk,” Chaturvedi told reporters here. Gandhi also recalled that the Congress and its late leader Rajiv Gandhi had first mooted the provision for quota for women in panchayats and municipal bodies through Constitution amendment bills.

She said the bills were “thwarted” by the opposition in 1989, but were passed by both the Houses of Parliament in 1993.