TRS should support Women's Reservation Bill: Uttam

Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy demanded that Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) support Congress president Sonia Gandhi's demand for passing of Women's Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha.

He was speaking while participating in the Bathukamma celebrations organised by Mahila Congress at Gandhi Bhavan on Saturday. TPCC Mahila Congress president Nerella Sharada, ex-MLA Marri Sashidhar Reddy and other senior leaders also participated in the celebrations.

Speaking on the occasion, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Congress party has always favoured empowerment of women. Unlike other parties, whose vision never crossed the peripheries of socio-economic upliftment, the Congress party ensured political empowerment of women.

"It was former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who originally came up with the thought of giving political reservation to women. As the then Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi brought Amendment in the Panchayati Raj Act, 1992 granting 33% reservation to women in the Panchayati Raj Institutions and local bodies. Although the opposition parties opposed the Bill in the Rajya Sabha in 1989, it was later passed in both the Houses of Parliament in 1993 which became 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment. This was a revolutionary step which ensured real empowerment of women at village level," he said.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the then UPA Government, under the guidance and leadership of Sonia Gandhi, also passed the Women's Reservation Bill in Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010. But it got stuck in the Lok Sabha due one reason or the other. "Congress party had total commitment, but lacked adequate numbers in Lok Sabha to pass the Bill during the previous UPA regime. Since BJP Govt did nothing to pass the Bill during the last three years, Sonia Gandhi has now written a letter to Prime Minister Narender Modi asking him to take advantage of BJP's strength in Lok Sabha to pass the Bill," he said.

The TPCC chief informed that out of 543 Lok Sabha MPs, only 66 are women. This is a mere 12% representation for women who constitute about 48.5% of total population in our country. The global average for Women in Parliament stands at 22.4% and with mere 12% India is at the 103rd place among 140 countries. Within Asia, India is at the 13th position out of 18 countries. The situation is quite bad in State Assemblies where only 9% of 4,120 MLAs are women. These numbers could be changed only by providing 33% reservation to Women in Parliament and Assemblies, he said.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the representation of women in Telangana Assembly and Council is quite negligible. Of 119 MLAs, only 9 are women which are just 7.5%. Similarly, of 40 MLCs, only one member is woman (Akula Lalitha of Congress) and it was due to the opportunity given by Sonia Gandhi. Of 17 Lok Sabha MPs, only one member is woman which is roughly 5.8%.

"Telangana is the only major State in the country with no women representation in the State Cabinet. By not including any women in his cabinet, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao has sent a wrong message that women are not capable of handling big responsibilities. In the previous Congress regime, we had five women ministers from Telangana alone and all of them efficiently handled major portfolios like Home and Major Industries. TRS Govt is apparently against the empowerment of women and therefore, KCR did not give adequate representation to women in his government," he said.

The TPCC Chief also slammed KCR for not promoting DWCRA and Women SHGs. He also accused TRS Govt of insulting women by giving them poor quality saris on Bathukamma festival. He said that the State Government was celebrating the Bathukamma festival only to promote KCR and his family members.

Uttam Kumar Reddy asked KCR to support Sonia Gandhi’s move and pressurize PM Modi to pass Women Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha. He also welcomed the decision of TPCC Mahila Congress wing to collect 3 lakh signatures in favour of Women Reservation Bill. He announced that after coming to power in 2019, the Congress Government would take all measures for the upliftment and empowerment of women.