Kiren Rijiju Urges Parties To Support Women’s Reservation Bill Without Politicisation

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday said there is “nothing controversial” in the proposed amendment to the Women’s Reservation Bill and urged all political parties to support it without politicising the issue.

The Centre is seeking broad consensus on the amendment to the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, which provides for one-third reservation for women in legislative bodies. The original legislation was passed unanimously in Parliament in 2023, and the current proposal seeks to enable its implementation ahead of the 2029 general elections.

According to the government, the amendment aims to decouple implementation from the upcoming Census and instead rely on the 2011 Census data as a basis for execution. A special session of Parliament has been convened on April 16 to deliberate on the proposal and move the process forward.

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Speaking to IANS, Rijiju said the issue should not be viewed through a political lens, arguing that doing so would undermine its purpose of empowering women. He said the Prime Minister has appealed to all parties to rise above differences and treat the reform as a collective national responsibility rather than a partisan matter.

Rijiju also said the government has reached out to opposition leaders, including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, urging cooperation on the bill. Responding to concerns raised by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, he stated that the full text of the amendment will soon be made public and insisted that there is no provision in the bill that could be considered controversial. He added that the proposal is straightforward in nature and should be supported unanimously, emphasising that the reform would stand as a national achievement rather than the credit of any single political party.

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