Women Quota Bill: "Announcement of a new India's new democratic commitment," the PM said.
Pitching for a "strong government with majority", Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said that's what made the approval for the long-pending women's reservation bill possible. It proves that a majority government was required to take the country forward, he said.
Addressing an event organised by the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Mahila Morcha to felicitate him for the passage of the women's reservation bill in Parliament, he asserted it was no ordinary legislation, but an announcement of a new India's new democratic commitment.
"It is our privilege that the chance to script history was given to us by crores of Indians. The event (women's quota bill) will be discussed for generations...Some decisions can change the course of a country's future. The successful passage of the bill is one such decision," he said.
Reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies was talked about for nearly three decades, he noted, adding that the earlier efforts lacked commitment and women were even insulted.
In a swipe at parties like the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Samajwadi Party (SP), fierce critics of the bill in the present form, PM Modi pointed out that political parties that used to tear copies of the women's reservation bill in Parliament had to support it.
The Constitution amendment bill will soon become law after the president's assent and the subsequent notification -- a procedural formality.
This is a proof of fulfilling "Modi's guarantee" that he will usher in a new era of women-led development, he said amid loud cheers from the large number of women present at the BJP headquarters.
Citing a number of his government's schemes and decisions for women's welfare, PM Modi said it has made every attempt to unshackle them with programmes for their security, respect, and prosperity.
"PM Awas Yojana gave women property rights, Beti Padhao Beti Bachao scheme gave women education, Muslim women are now free from the shackles of Triple Talaq," he said.