With Women?s Reservation Bill opponents RJD, SP and JD (U) finding a partner in UPA ally Trinamool Congress, government efforts to break the deadlock and ensure early passage of the Bill in Lok Sabha were again stonewalled on Monday but the BJP and Left appeared to rephrase their positions, calibrating it to suit interests.
?Further discussion will continue,? an official announcement said after a two-hour meeting of leaders of different parties called by leader of Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee?in other words, there will be another round of talks. Broadly, all parties stuck to their original stand but the BJP and Left reformulated their views to address varying interests.
The government, represented by ministers P Chidambaram, AK Antony, Veerappa Moily and Pawan Kumar Bansal, heard the leaders of other parties without making any fresh proposal. A government response to their views is expected at the next meeting.
Emerging from the meeting, leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj told reporters that the BJP was opposed to any move for a quota within quota but was certainly in favour of a consensus. She said the BJP would back any proposal based on the formula propounded by M S Gill as chief election commissioner that parties be mandated to allocate a fixed quota to women while distributing tickets.
Many BJP MPs have a problem with the proposed rotation principle and the latest BJP position is apparently nuanced to address their concerns. Coupled with this is the BJP insistence that marshals be kept out of the House which would make conduct of voting a tricky exercise.
In the ruling camp, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee sounded more strident in her demand for a sub-quota for Muslims within the proposed 33% share of women. With an eye on the 27% Muslim vote in West Bengal, which can decisively tilt the scales either way in the next Assembly polls, Banerjee forced the Left to stop insisting that it wants the Bill in its present form.
CPM leader Basudeb Acharia, responding to questions from reporters, said they were prepared to consider the demand for a sub-quota ?but the proposal has to come from the government.? He then added that ?there is no proposal from the government?.
The CPM favoured the passage of the Bill in its present form. Asked if the ongoing consultations could delay the Bill, he said it was alright if it led to a consensus. His view was endorsed by Gurudas Dasgupta of the CPI who opposed any attempt to drop the Bill.
Dara Singh Chauhan of the BSP said his party supported reservation for women but it wanted the shares of OBCs, Dalits and minorities set aside.
Towards the end of the meeting, Pranab Mukherjee?s proposal for another meeting to discuss the report of the Ranganath Misra commission took many leaders by surprise. The commission had recommended 15% quota for minorities?10% of which should be earmarked for Muslims?in jobs and education and making Scheduled Caste category religion-neutral to extend reservation to Muslim and Christian converts to Dalits.
The Congress has so far been non-committal on implementation of the Misra commission report, maintaining it was not in favour of any ?knee-jerk implementation?.