New Delhi, April 14 (IANS) Senior Congress leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker, Meira Kumar, was among prominent women leaders and activists present in the front row at the Nari Shakti Vandan Sammelan, expressing her support for greater representation of women in legislative bodies.
Her support came at a time when Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson and Rajya Sabha member Sonia Gandhi made a scathing critique of the timing of the Bill … calling it “underhand tactic.”
In her article, Sonia Gandhi questioned the shift in the government’s position, noting that in 2023 it had rejected the Opposition’s demand for implementation in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
She also criticised the Centre for rejecting repeated requests for an all-party meeting after the Assembly polls, accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of adopting a unilateral approach.
“Now, we are given to understand that Article 334-A will be amended to make women’s reservation applicable from 2029 itself. Why did it take the Prime Minister 30 months to make his U-turn? And why can he not wait a few weeks to convene the special session?” Sonia Gandhi asked, stressing the need for an all-party meeting.
“But that perfectly reasonable request (for an all-party meeting) has been turned down. Instead, the Prime Minister has resorted to writing op-eds, making appeals to political parties, and organising ‘sammelans’. It is an underhand tactic that reflects the Prime Minister’s one-upmanship and his ‘my way or the highway’ approach to decision-making,” she added.
Amid the political exchange, Prime Minister Modi, while addressing women leaders at the Sammelan on Monday, acknowledged the presence of Meira Kumar. Highlighting her contributions, he noted that several experienced leaders, including Members of Parliament and Legislative Assemblies, were part of the gathering.
Meira Kumar on Monday had said that when the Bill will be finally implemented, “we will feel that our struggle has been fulfilled and completed.”
Speaking to IANS, the former Lok Sabha Speaker and Congress leader Meira Kumar said, “I have witnessed this journey, and this struggle has been ongoing for 30 years. We have been striving for more than three decades. When it finally happens, we will feel that our struggle has been fulfilled and completed.”
Meira Kumar is an Indian diplomat, politician, and government official who served as Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 2009 to 2014, the first woman to hold that position.
Kumar lost her bid to retain her seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, one of the many Congress Party members who were ousted from the chamber in the BJP’s landslide victory. She left the Speaker’s post in early June, following the expiration of her term. In the 2017 presidential election, the UPA nominated her as its candidate, but Ram Nath Kovind of the BJP easily defeated her.
–IANS
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