Srinagar: Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday welcomed the Union cabinet’s decision to approve the Women’s Reservation Bill for discussion in parliament, calling it a great step.
“Having navigated the rough terrain of a predominantly male political landscape myself, I am happy to see that finally the Women Reservation bill will become a reality. Despite constituting half of the population, we are grossly underrepresented. It’s a great step,” Mufti wrote on X.
Minister of State Prahlad Singh Patel had on Monday posted on social media platform X that the Cabinet had approved the women’s reservation bill but deleted the post within an hour.
Mufti said it was never too late to pass the bill in the Parliament as women face a lot of challenges in the male-dominated political scene.
“It is a good step. Though quite late, but never too late. I, being a woman myself, have gone through a lot and you have to face a lot of challenges in a male-dominated political scene,” she was quoted as saying by PTI.
The former J&K chief minister said it was high time that women had a place on the decision table – whether in state assembly or parliament.
“Looking at the challenges, the atrocities women are facing across the country, I think, this is high time that the bill has been brought in,” she added.
Mufti concurred with former Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s remark “bill is ours” pointing out that it was her husband, late former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, who had laid the foundation for an equitable proportion for women by giving them 33 percent reservation in the panchayats.
She said there is a huge women force which is ready to get into assemblies and parliament and called the panchayat the foundational ground where women can be groomed for a larger responsibility.
“It (Bill) was passed by the Rajya Sabha during the UPA tenure, but it was not passed in the Lok Sabha after many regional parties opposed it because they wanted a quota within a quota for backward, downtrodden women classes, which is a different thing.
“But, I think Sonia ji is right, it was brought by the Congress, and now the BJP is doing it, they have to do it together, it is a good thing,” Mufti said.
National Conference (NC) is not against the Women Reservation Bill and has no objection if it is implemented, party vice president Omar Abdullah said.
“When have we been against women reservation? We ourselves implemented it here in panchayats and other places. We are not against women reservation, 50 percent of our population is our sisters, mothers, they should get a chance to become representatives of people. We have no objection to this,” Abdullah told reporters in Budgam.
Asked if it would impact the prospects of the party in J&K, Abdullah said the party has no dearth of female leaders of calibre.
“How will it impact? Do you think we have no women who will stand in the polls on the reserved seats? There is no dearth of female candidates in NC anywhere. We have a women’s wing and they have left no stone unturned in their fight.
“We will have no impact because of any bill. We only suffer because the rulers here fear the polls. They have become uncrowned kings. They do not want to conduct the election. The danger is from them who are running away from elections,” he said, in an apparent reference to the LG administration imposed by the Centre.
