Sonia says Women's Reservation Bill was worth the political risk

Congress President Sonia Gandhi in an interview with Barkha Dutt on NDTV on March 9, 2010.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi today said the decision to push the Women's Reservation Bill through the Rajya Sabha was a political risk which the party thought was worth taking for the sake of women's empowerment.

The Bill proposes to reserve one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies for women.

"It is a huge risk, but we have taken risks before," she said in an interview to journalist Barkha Dutt on NDTV tonight, shortly after the historic Constitution Amendment Bill was passed by an overwhelming 186-1 majority in the Upper House of Parliament after two tumultuous days in which some members opposed to the legislation indulged in unprecedented unruly scenes and were, in fact, evicted from the House today for the rest of the Budget session.

Ms Gandhi said such new and revolutionary measures often met with opposition and difficulties in all parties, including, perhaps, hers.

"But as I said the larger picture of women empowerment is more important," she said.

The ruling United Progressive Alliance Chairperson said that such decisions are not hers alone.

"It is not only my decision..When issues like this are discussed, both sides of the picture are put before us...either me, or the PM, or Pranab Mukherjee.and then we take a view...after assessing positives and negatives...then together we come to a conclusion. It was not my decision..I could not have taken it on my own," she said.

Ms Gandhi expressed her gratitude to the Opposition for standing by the Bill. She also said she was also relieved and very happy that the legislation had got through the Rajya Sabha, 14 years after the law was first mooted.

"You said how did I manage this? It is not me the Congress President managing it...is the PM, me, my colleagues, the Congress party, my party, especially women in my party," she said.

Asked if she was disappointed that the Bill was not passed yesterday, the centenary of International Women's Day, as the Government had hoped, she said, "Not at all...I know that it was a difficult legislation and suddenly problems may crop up...but we were hopeful throughout and I was keeping my fingers crossed."

About the unseemly incidents in the House, especially the attempt to snatch a copy of the Bill from Chairman M Hamid Ansari and the hurling of torn bits of the Bill at him, she said,"That was not at all the right thing to do...I have not witnessed such scenes before."

To a question about the decision by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress to abstain from the voting in protest against not being consulted on the passage of the Bill, Ms Gandhi said that she was told that when the legislation had come up in the Union Cabinet, all three coalition partners of the Congress were very supportive.

She was referring to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) of Union Agriculture MinisterSharad Pawar, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Trinamool Congress.

"Mamata was in the Cabinet meeting and I was told by the person who sat next to her that she was very enthusiastic..I don't understand what has happened..but I am sure she will understand," Ms Gandhi said.

She agreed that she shared a good personal rapport with Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Laloo Prasad Yadav and Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, both of whom are opposed to the Bill in its present form. They and the Bahujan Samaj Party of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati want a quota within the quota for minorities and Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

"It is true there is a personal rapport...but when it comes to political issues, personal relations don't count so much. We all have to be generous and think of larger picture. Women empowerment after all is a vision of Rajiv ji," she said, referring to late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

Asked about the possible difficulties that the Bill was likely to face in the Lok Sabha now, Ms Gandhi said, "The first step has been taken, and as a natural corollary of this, the next step will also have to be taken. We are committed."

Asked if that would happen during the current session of the Lok Sabha, she said, "I can't say."

Ms Gandhi said she was proud of the fact that during the UPA's tenure, the country today has a woman President and a woman as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

On the demand for a quota within the quota, the Congress President asked who prevented the parties making such demands from giving tickets to Muslim women or women from the OBCs.

Explaining the need for reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislatures, Ms Gandhi said that while all parties talk about giving more tickets to women but when it came to the crunch they found some excuse or the other to deny them the chance. She said the usual excuse was the winnability of a particular candidate.

She said she had watched the proceedings in the Rajya Sabha on television at her home and admitted to being a bit tense.

NNN