New Delhi, December 8
Annoyed over the dilly-dallying approach of the government on the Women’s Reservation Bill, women MPs, cutting across party lines, attacked the government for the inordinate delay in tabling the Bill and forced the adjournment in the Rajya Sabha today.

Immediately after question hour, when deputy chairperson K. Rehman Khan asked parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Pachauri to read out the schedule for next week, BJP MP Sushma Swaraj rose to ask the fate of the Women’s Reservation Bill.

Stating that Mr Pachauri, during the Business Advisory Committee meeting, had said the Union Cabinet would take up the issue today and would inform the House about the Bill, Ms Swaraj said, “Now the Cabinet meeting is over, so let the minister inform the House about the Cabinet’s decision on the Bill”.

She was immediately joined by BJP MP and former deputy chairperson Najma Heptullah, CPM’s Brinda Karat and several other women members belonging to the Congress and other parties and vociferously demanded a categoric reply from the government.

Mr Pachauri initially took the plea that as per parliamentary practice, issues discussed at the BAC meeting should not be revealed in the House.

This prompted Ms Heptullah to say, “I was not there in the BAC, but now I want to know the fate of the Bill”.

Even as the deputy chairperson insisted that there was no zero hour on Fridays and there was no need for the government to reply, women MPs from several parties kept demanding a reply.

Forced by the situation, Mr Pachouri rose and said the government, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Congress were committed to providing reservation to women and there were certain set procedures before the Bill was introduced and the government was in the process of following those procedures.

Dissatisfied with the minister’s reply, agitated MPs continued to demand a categoric assurance from the government on tabling of the Bill and on the timeframe for its introduction.

With agitated MPs unrelenting, the deputy chairperson adjourned the House for 15 minutes.

When the House reassembled, it was adjourned again till lunch following pandemonium, with the Trinamool Congress demanding a discussion on the Singur issue and the Congress insisting on raising the matter of DNA reports of some skeletons matching those of Gujarat riot victims.