Asks Congress-ruled States to pass resolutions in the Assemblies on demand

Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday wrote to Chief Ministers of States ruled by the Congress and its allies to pass a resolution in the Assemblies and ask the Centre to reserve one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha for women by passing the Women’s Reservation Bill in the next session.

At the moment, only Punjab and Puducherry are ruled by the Congress while in Karnataka, the Congress is part of the coalition with Janata Dal (Secular).

In his letter to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, officially released by the party, Mr. Gandhi pointed out that the Rajya Sabha had passed the 108th constitutional amendment bill in 2010 but it lapsed after the 15th Lok Sabha got dissolved in 2014.

“The Congress and several parties have called on the Prime Minister to ensure the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill and pledged their support. While the opponents of the Bill have cast doubts on the ability of women to effect change, the leadership role taken by women after the 73rd and 73th constitutional amendments have proved the detractors wrong,” he said.

Citing the example of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh as States taking the lead, Mr Gandhi wrote to the Punjab Chief Minister, “In order to affirm our support to the passage of the Bill, it would be expedient for the tate assembly to pass a resolution calling for the reservation of one-third of the seats in the Lok Sabha and legislative assembly for women, in the next session.”

He said Lok Sabha MP Sushmita Dev, who heads the Mahila Congress, had also written to all party-led State governments on November 23, pressing the demand.

Ahead of Parliament's Monsoon Session, the Congress president had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to “demonstrate his commitment to the cause of women and ensure the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill during the session”.

However, Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad countered the Congress chief by asking him to back the triple talaq bill that made Talaq-e-Biddat a criminal offense. Mr Prasad has also accused the Congress of doing appeasement politics by blocking the bill in Parliament and “denying gender justice for Muslim women”.

The Congress chief's move comes, once again, just days ahead of the winter session of Parliament that gets underway on Tuesday. In this session, effectively the last one for the government to seek the passage of a major bill before the 2019 general elections, the Modi government is keen to push the triple talaq ordinance.