"What If Wayanad Is Reserved For Women": Union Home Minister Amit Shah Answers Doubts Related To 128th Amendment

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday (20 September) clarified in Lok Sabha that the Women's Reservation Bill will reserve one-third of the seats reserved for the SC/ST community for women of this community.

There was an uproar in the parliament when Shah started speaking, the Home Minister responded to it by saying, "Dariye mat, dariye mat" (fear not fear not). Earlier, Rahul Gandhi too used such terms in his speech when he said, "Daro mat, daro mat".

The Home Minister informed parliament that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was the first party to reserve one-third of seats for women in the party organisation.

Shah highlighted how Gujarat's sex ratio transformed under Narendra Modi's Chief Ministership without any law. He also mentioned the impact of the 'Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao' program.

"This isn't a political issue for us, this is our nature", Shah said on the bill. "Modi ji started Jan Dhan Yojana. 70 per cent of the 52 crore bank accounts opened were of women," he added.

"Congress ruled this country for more than five decades but couldn't build toilets. Modi ji made 11.72 crore toilets in his first term itself. This empowered women," Shah said further.

He also mentioned the contribution of Ujjwala Yojana, PM-Awas Yojana, Jal Jeewan Mission, Garib Kalyan Yojana, Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana and Matri Vandana Yojana to bettering the lives of women.

"This reservation will ensure women's participation in policy-making, decision-making," Shah said. He targeted the opposition saying their roots are not connected to India, which has the concept of Devi worshipping.

Recalling the four previous unsuccessful efforts to bring this reservation, Shah said this fifth attempt should get an unanimous support. He addressed doubts raised by various members.

"Currently, General, SC and ST are the three categories under which members are elected. This 33 per cent reservation will be implemented to all three categories," he explained.

"Delimitation is a quasi-judicial process. Which seats will be reserved for women, delimitation commission will decide using a transparent process," Shah said further.

He mocked Rahul Gandhi and Asaduddin Owaisi saying, "What if Wayanad or Hyderabad seats get reserved for women? You will call it a political step. Hence, time is needed to ensure transparency."

Shah also answered Rahul Gandhi's claim that only three of the 90 secretaries are OBCs. He wondered why Gandhi thinks that secretaries run the country and said the government runs the country.

The Union Home Minister also brought to light that 29 per cent of the BJP MPs and ministers are OBCs and challenged the opposition to compare these numbers with theirs. He also highlighted the fact that BJP made an OBC PM, not Congress.

He concluded his speech by asking everyone to pass the bill unanimously.