Women's Reservation is a matter of recognition for BJP, says Amit Shah

New Delhi, Sep 20 (IANS) Home minister Amit Shah on Wednesday, while taking a swipe at the opposition, said that women's reservation could be a political issue or a political tool for some, but for the BJP it is a matter of recognition.

Participating in the discussion on the much awaited women's reservation bill or the 128th Constitutional Amendment, Shah said in Lok Sabha: “For some parties, women empowerment can be a political agenda and a political tool to win elections, but for BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi it is not a political issue.”

He also questioned the opposition over the delay in passing of the bill.

Notably, the bill has been in limbo since the then UPA regime had brought it in 2008 and was later passed by Rajya Sabha in 2010.

However, as it could not be passed in Lok Sabha at that time, the bill had lapsed.

The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, though is different from the previous bill and entails reservation for women for 15 years and may become applicable only by 2029 after the delimitation exercise, sources had informed.

“Women's quota bill was brought to Parliament four times earlier but not passed, why is that?” Shah questioned.

He further appealed to the Parliament to pass it unanimously.

Shah lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his women-led initiatives ever since he was the chief minister of Gujarat and now as the Prime Minister.

“The passage of women's reservation bill will mark the start of a new era…Women's security, respect and equal participation have been the life force of the government since Prime Minister Modi took the oath of office…He also presented the vision of women-led progress in the G20,” Shah said.

On Rahul Gandhi's query as to why the bill was linked to the delimitation and census exercise and thus facing a delayed implementation, Shah said that the delimitation commission is the only body which can decide on which seats to reserve.

Shah said that it would be on the basis of census data that such decisions could be taken.

He said that the much delayed census exercise and delimitation would take place after next year's Lok Sabha elections.

Taking a dig at Rahul Gandhi, Shah said that if the government reserves Wayanad or Hyderabad then it will be called a political move.