In a widely shared letter to the Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi recently pitched for the passage of the Womens Reservation Bill in the Lower House (it has already been passed in the Upper House). She described this as significant step forward in the empowerment of women and that the Congress Party has always supported and will continue to support this legislation. The Bill which mandates reservation of one-third seats for women in Parliament and Legislative Assemblies has caught the attention of others in the opposition (CPM, TRS) and it is reported that the BJP government is actively considering passing it in the Winter Session in the Parliament.

Unsurprisingly, the demand has generated some enormously good coverage and many commentators have urged the Prime Minister to heed and follow Sonia Gandhis advice. Why would anyone, they argue, not be in support of a Bill that encourages womens participation in politics? After all, the percentage of women in the Lok Sabha has gone up by only a small margin from 4.4% in 1951 to 11% in 2014 and at this pace, it will take another 180 years to reach the gender balance that the Bill seeks to create.