Rahul to PM: Walk the talk on women’s Bill

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 16

Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "rise above party politics" by passing the women's reservation Bill, saying all the Bill needs to become a law is BJP support.

"Given the fact that the BJP and its allies have a majority in the Lok Sabha, all this landmark legislation requires to become a reality is your support. I am sure it will not be withheld… You have Congress' unconditional support," Gandhi said in a letter to the PM, asking him to walk his talk having promised the Bill in BJP's 2014 Lok Sabha election manifesto.

Gandhi was responding close on the heels of the PM accusing Congress of being anti-Muslim women by opposing the scrapping of the instant triple talaq practice.

Gandhi said if not passed now, the Bill would become impossible to implement for the next General Election. The Bill which seeks to reserve 33 per cent seats in Parliament and state legislatures for women was passed by the Rajya Sabha on March 8, 2010, but could not clear the LS hurdle. It lapsed subsequently and will now have to be pushed afresh.

The Congress chief told the PM: “Let us rise above party politics and send a message that we believe the time for change has come.” He submitted to the PM 3.2 million signatures collected from across India in support of the Bill.