House passes censure motion blaming opposition for non-passage of Nari Shakti Vandan Amendment Act in Lok Sabha 

BJP & Congress blame each other for failure on women reservation

PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun

The one-day special Assembly session was adjourned sine die on Tuesday with the passage of a censure motion condemning the opposition for the non-passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Amendment Act in Lok Sabha. The session witnessed heated discussions between the treasury benches and opposition on the topic Nari Samman- Loktantra Me Adhikar.

Immediately after the commencement of the session, the leader of opposition Yashpal Arya put a proposal that the Vidhan Sabha should pass a resolution as per the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam 2023 that 33 per cent of the seats in Assembly should immediately be reserved for women. The speaker Ritu Khanduri turned down Arya’s proposal citing procedural issues. Initiating the debate, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the women played the most important role in the Statehood movement. He said that in Sanatan culture, women are revered as goddesses. Remembering the role played by women such as Gaura Devi, Tinchari Mai, Bishani Devi Shah, Jashuli Shaukyan, Kunti Verma, Bhagirathi Devi, Mangala Devi and others the CM said there should be no politics in supporting measures being taken for the empowerment of women. He said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi recognised the potential of women by introducing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in 2023 which provided for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and State Vidhan Sabhas. Dhami said that a special session of Lok Sabha was convened on April 16 this year to provide full rights for half the country’s population by the next Lok Sabha elections. However, opposition parties collectively prevented this historic and transformative initiative from being passed in parliament. He said that when the bill failed to pass in the Lok Sabha due to numerical strength, opposition leaders applauded which reminded one of the scene of the assembly of Mahabharata in which Draupadi was insulted by Kauravs.  

Dhami said that the opposition is now attempting to mislead people on women’s reservation and added that Home minister Amit Shah had made it clear in the Lok Sabha that there would be no discrimination against any State’s seats through delimitation, which is why the provision for increasing seats was included in the bill. In his address, the CM repeatedly targeted the opposition Congress for doing nothing for women empowerment during its 60 year-long rule. He said that the opposition stalled the bill probably because it was afraid that PM Modi would get credit for it. Dhami said that understanding this dilemma of the opposition the PM had stated in Lok Sabha that if this bill is passed, he will give full credit to the opposition.

In his address, the CM listed the women centric decisions and policies formulated by the Modi government and the State government. He appealed to the opposition to rise above petty political and party interests and adopt a positive and clear stand on an important issue like empowerment of women.

The LoP Arya said that despite the passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam in 2023, the notification was withheld for three years and then issued on April 16, 2026 which raises serious questions about the government’s intentions. He said that the government deliberately linked the issue of delimitation with women reservation in Lok Sabha on April 16, 2026. He claimed that if the bill was passed then Uttarakhand’s share in Parliament would have dropped from 0.93 percent to just 0.72 percent. This would have been a direct attack on the State’s rights. 

Launching an attack on the State government Arya said it has failed to protect the dignity of women and demanded that it should immediately implement 33 per cent reservation for women in the 2027 Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha elections.

He said that women in the State are not safe and the identity of the VIP involved in murder of Ankita Bhandari is yet to be ascertained. In the debate the members of the treasury and opposition benches tried to label one another anti-women.