'It's ours, Apna Hai': Sonia Gandhi on Women's Reservation Bill

What about it? It’s ours. Apna hain,” Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi said on Tuesday, when she was asked for a reaction on the Women's Reservation Bill being cleared to be introduced in Lok Sabha. She came to the Old Parliament building for a historic joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as both houses convene ahead of the first session in the newly inaugurated Parliament building.

New Delhi:“What about it? It’s ours. Apna hain,” Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi said on Tuesday.

Her curt response to media persons came while she was entering the Parliament for a historic joint sitting of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha as both houses convene their first session in the newly inaugurated Parliament building.

The Union Cabinet cleared the Women's Reservation Bill, which seeks to reserve 33 per cent of seats in Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies, on Monday.

The Bill was cleared in the key meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said today, "We want the Women's Reservation Bill to be brought and passed as soon as possible. The demand for the Women's Reservation Bill was initiated by UPA and our leader Sonia Gandhi. It took so long, but we will be happy if this is introduced."

Earlier on Monday, the Congress General Secretary in charge of Communications Jairam Ramesh said that the party has been demanding the implementation of the Constitution 108th Amendment Bill, 2008 bill for a long time.

"The Congress party has been demanding the implementation of women's reservation for a long time. We welcome the Union Cabinet decision reportedly coming forward and look forward to the details of the Bill," he said in a post on X.

He further added that this could have been thoroughly discussed in the all-party meeting before the special session and a consensus could have been reached instead of behind-the-scenes politics.

The allocation of reserved seats shall be determined by such authority as prescribed by Parliament.

One-third of the total number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes shall be reserved for women of those groups in the Lok Sabha and the legislative assemblies. Reservation of seats for women shall cease to exist 15 years after the commencement of this Amendment Act.

In 2010, Rajya Sabha had passed the bill but bill lapsed as it could not be passed by Lok Sabha.