When both Congress and BJP supported the Women’s Reservation Bill, know who stopped it.

Before the start of the special session of Parliament, there were speculations as to why the special session had been called. Now the special session has started and after the first day only the Women’s Reservation Bill is discussed. It is being claimed that the Modi Cabinet has given its approval to the Women’s Reservation Bill during the special session of the Parliament. According to the media report, it is to be introduced in the Lok Sabha and the whole country is waiting. Although the issue of Women’s Reservation Bill is not new but very old and it has been presented in Parliament several times in 27 years, but it could never be passed. Earlier in the year 2010 also this bill was introduced. Then there was UPA government and Manmohan Singh was the PM. There was a lot of uproar when this bill was introduced at that time. Amidst the uproar, this bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha, but it got stuck in the Lok Sabha. The interesting thing is that Congress had got it passed in the Rajya Sabha with the support of BJP, JDU and Left parties. Talking about the entire incident, on May 6, 2008, the Women’s Reservation Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha and it was sent to the Standing Committee on Law and Justice. This standing committee presented its report on 17 December 2009. This bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha, but Samajwadi Party, JDU and RJD opposed it. On 22 February 2010, the then President Pratibha Patil had said in her address in the Parliament that the government is committed to passing the Women’s Reservation Bill soon. On 25 February 2010, the Union Cabinet also approved the Women’s Reservation Bill. On March 8, 2010, the Women’s Reservation Bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha, but there was an uproar in the House and SP RJD threatened to withdraw support from the UPA, due to which the voting could not take place. On March 9, 2010, Congress, with the support of BJP, JDU and Left parties, passed the Women’s Reservation Bill with an overwhelming majority in the Rajya Sabha. It could not be introduced in the Lok Sabha. It was introduced for the first time in 1996 and only UPA’s allies SP and RJD opposed it. However, before 2010, the Women’s Reservation Bill was also tabled in Parliament in 1996.