Sonia Gandhi writes to PM Narendra Modi on women's reservation bill

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to make use of the NDA’s majority in the Lok Sabha to pass the long-pending women’s reservation bill and assuring him of Congress’ support to the legislation.

“I am writing to request you to take advantage of your majority in the Lok Sabha to now get the Women’s Reservation Bill passed in the Lower House as well,” Gandhi wrote in the letter, which coincided with reports that the Modi government was mulling the option of pushing the women’s reservation bill. “The Congress party has always and will continue to support this legislation which will be a significant step forward in the empowerment of women.”

The Congress president pointed out in the letter that it was the Rajiv Gandhi regime that “first mooted the provision” of reservation for women in panchayats and municipalities which the Opposition parties “thwarted” in Parliament before it was passed during the Narasimha Rao regime. She also underlined that the UPA regime had got the women’s reservation bill passed in the Rajya Sabha before it languished in the Lok Sabha for different reasons.




Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev backed up Gandhi by leading a pack of party’s women leaders to address a pre s s conference to demand passage of the bill while recalling Congress’ commitment to the cause of women.

“It was Rajiv Gandhi and Congress party again who reshaped participatory democracy in India by the constitutional guarantee of reservation to women in panchayats, panchayat samiti, zilla parishads, municipal committee/councils and municipal corporations,” Dev said.