Fadnavis Announces Signature Campaign For Women’s Reservation Bill

Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced a statewide campaign to gather more than one crore signatures in support of the Women’s Reservation Bill. By opposing the Bill in Parliament, the opposition has betrayed the trust of 70 crore women in the country, he said on Monday.

“The vote of public opinion will be shown to the Opposition by collecting signatures of 1 crore women from every corner of Maharashtra. We shall create awareness such that the opposition will be forced to acknowledge and come in support of the Bill. The BJP will not rest until women get their rightful place,” Fadnavis said.

The CM also said, the BJP will hold a major demonstration on Tuesday in support of the bill. All the Mahayuti allies — the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the NCP – too will carry out awareness campaigns at their level.

“A big rally will be held with the participation of allies so that the anti-women power politics of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and the Congress will stand exposed,” he added.

“April 17 was to be a watershed moment in India’s history. The Opposition betrayed the trust of 70 crore women. This Bill would have greatly benefited not only general women, but also women from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The number of reserved seats in these categories would also have increased significantly. The Opposition has not only opposed women’s reservation but has also used the axe on the political progress of women from Dalit and tribal communities,” Fadnavis said.

The CM sought an apology from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, calling him a ‘liar’ and challenged the opposition parties for an open debate on the issue. However, the Opposition hit back at him, calling it a series of lies, and seeking the immediate implementation of the Women’s Reservation Bill immediately, without any riders.

NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule said, “Devendra Fadnavis is a knowledgeable leader. He is 2,000 percent aware that the Women’s Reservation Bill was passed as recently as 2023. However, he may have received a directive or faced pressure from Delhi to strictly adhere to this specific party line.”

Congress MP Praniti Shinde claimed that the BJP government brought this special session and the Bill to benefit in the Assembly elections to be held in West Bengal and in Tamil Nadu. “Every time there is an election, they want to bring up something related to women. This time, since there was nothing else, they brought up an old Bill which was passed three years ago,” she said.