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Asserting that it was determined to ensure the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament, the Bharatiya Janata Party has sought to make political capital on the issue by stating that since the United Progressive Alliance coalition was in minority in the Rajya Sabha, the onus of getting it adopted was with the main opposition.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Saturday convened an emergency meeting of the party core group to discuss the Women's Reservation Bill that is set to be tabled in the Rajya Sabha on March 8.
"The core group unanimously decided to ensure the passage of the Constitution Amendment providing for one-third reservation for women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies," Gadkari said in a statement. The BJP has already issued a three-line whip to its Rajya Sabha Members of Parliament -- to be present and vote for the bill in the Upper House on Monday.
"The BJP is determined to ensure the passage of this bill. The bill shows national aspiration and the society has been waiting for it for the last 15 years," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said.
He said since the government is in a minority in Rajya Sabha, the BJP understands that it will have to play an important role in getting the Women's Reservation Bill passed there.
When informed that some political parties wanted a consensus to be built on the bill before it was passed, Jaitley said, "Consensus building can be tried only up to a reasonable period of time. The numbers in favour of this bill are overwhelming".
When asked if some of allies of the National Democratic Alliance and even sections within the BJP were opposed to the bill, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said, "On many issues in every party, there are differences, but in a Parliamentary democracy, there is a provision of whip". She maintained that the BJP's allies had a right to differ.
"The fact that they are other parties means there are differences on some issues. Else we would all be in one party," she said.
"The BJP first mooted the idea of this bill in 1995 in its national council at Vadodara," she said.
The NDA government had also moved this bill in the Lok Sabha, but it could not be passed due to strong opposition from some parties.