MUMBAI: Mahayuti corporators, dressed in black and raising slogans, staged a protest against the rejection of the Women’s Reservation Bill on the floor of the house and outside, on Monday. Led by leader of the house Ganesh Khankar, they shouted, “Naari ke samman mein BJP maidan mein” and “Phool nahi chingari hai, Bharat ke naari hai,” highlighting their stand on women’s empowerment and representation.
Khankar delivered an impassioned speech, alleging that political considerations had led to the bill’s defeat. “Due to manipulative politics, opposition parties, especially the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, opposed it. It is surprising that even Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP-SP too joined them,” he said.
He said that in Maharashtra, parties have traditionally supported women’s representation in local self-government institutions. “Is this bill being introduced for the first time? No. It was first introduced in the Lok Sabha in 1996. At that time too, parties like the RJD, Samajwadi Party and Congress opposed it, despite all arrangements being made. There had been preparations to expand the number of seats and accommodate this in the legislature, but the opposition parties conspired to block it. In a way, this is an attempt to deny women their rights,” he said.
Questioning the opposition’s stand on constitutional values, he remarked, “All of them talk about ‘saving the Constitution’, but who is actually going against it? To protest this, today BJP and Shiv Sena leaders from the Mahayuti came to the House wearing black clothes, strongly opposing the denial of women’s rights.”
Khankar added, “When the draft was prepared in 2023, it clearly stated that the number of seats for women in the Lok Sabha would increase in the country. Accordingly, 33% reservation for women would be implemented based on the increased seats. The current 542 Lok Sabha seats were proposed to be expanded to over 800, and the Maharashtra legislative assembly was expected to go up to nearly 400 seats; these provisions were part of the 2023 draft. This is not happening for the first time; even then the Congress has opposed it from behind the scenes.”