We have got the Fruit in our Hand: Karunanidhi on the successes of women's reservation Bill

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, on Monday, hailed the passing of the Women's Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha.

The Chief Minister, who was watching the Rajya Sabha proceedings on Television said in a statement that reservation for women in the Parliament and State Legislatures is like a wholesome fruit and the sub quotas (for SC/ST and OBCs) are like the slices of the fruit.

''We have got the fruit on our hand now and let us rejoice,'' he said, adding how the slices could be shared among various sections of women in the society could be worked out later.

History was created in the Rajya Sabha when it voted by an overwhelming majority a Bill to reserve 33 per cent of the seats in Lok Sabha and Assemblies for women after the Government pushed ahead with it, ignoring possible threats to its stability and after eviction of troublesome MPs opposed to it.

Fourteen years after the first attempt was made in the Lok Sabha and repeated failures subsequently, the Constitution Amendment Bill was adopted in the mandatory division with 186 members voting for it and one voting against.

In the 245-member upper-house the bill was passed with an effective strength of 233, but the Bill required only the backing of at least 155 members and in the run up to the event the UPA had the clear support of 165 members of the Rajya Sabah.

The Bill seeks to reserve for women 181 of the 543 seats in the Lok Sabha and 1,370 out of a total of 4,109 seats in the 28 State Assemblies.

Ruling UPA constituent Trinamool Congress, which has two members, kept away from voting, while the BSP, which has opposed the Bill in its present form, walked out before voting.

The JD(U), whose president Sharad Yadav is a staunch opponent of the Bill, appears to have backed the Bill with most of its 7 members voting for it in response to the call by its senior leader Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

The Bill had the backing of all the UPA constituents, the BJP, the Left parties and a number of small parties like the AIADMK and TDP.

- Asian Tribune -