PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
Stage is set for a showdown between ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Congress on the issue of women reservation during the special session of Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha in Dehradun on Tuesday.
Following the footsteps of some other BJP ruled governments, the Uttarakhand government has also convened a one day special session on ‘Nari Samman- Loktantra Mai Adhikar’ on April 28. In the session no legislative work will be carried out. The members of the ruling party will raise the issue of non-passage of the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (amendment) in the Lok Sabha recently and blame the opposition for it. The ruling BJP has already organised many Akrosh rallies in different parts of the State. The Rajya Sabha member and president of Uttarakhand BJP Mahendra Bhatt is targeting the opposition for the non-passage of the bill and is labelling the Congress party as anti-women. He said that in the 60 years of its rule the Congress party did nothing for women reservation. Bhatt said that the people of the country have realised the real face of the Congress party on the issue of women empowerment.
The leader of opposition in Vidhan Sabha, Yashpal Arya told The Pioneer that the member of the Congress party will expose the propaganda of the BJP in Vidhan Sabha on the issue of women reservation. He said that the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2017, supporting 33 per cent reservation to women in legislative bodies. He said that the Congress and all the opposition parties supported the Women reservation bill in 2023 which was passed by both houses of parliament. Arya said that the Congress wants that the government should immediately provide 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha and all Vidhan Sabhas. “ We will press for passage of resolution in the Vidhan Sabha demanding immediate implementation of women reservation in Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas,’’ he said.
