Women's bill stalls parliament, Rajya Sabha defers voting on women's bill

(Credit: IANS) Angry MPs from the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) stalled the functioning of parliament on Monday, forcing two adjournments of both houses as they noisily opposed the bill that seeks to reserve a third of seats for women in all legislatures.

The trouble in the Rajya Sabha and also Lok Sabha began as they assembled after a two-day weekend break forcing adjournment of question hours.

The disruption and noisy protests continued as soon as the members in the two houses reassembled again at noon. In the Lok Sabha, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD president Lalu Prasad joined their party MPs in raising slogans. The lone MP from the Majlis-e Ittihad ul-Muslimin (MIM) Asaduddin Owaisi also joined the protests.

The protesting MPs demanded that the Women's Reservation Bill should ensure a "quota within the quota" for women from backward classes. Speaker Meira Kumar, sensing the mood of the MPs, quickly adjourned the house till 2 p.m. after some official papers were laid on the table.

Earlier in the morning, the house was adjourned till noon after some SP and BSP MPs gathered near the speaker's podium protesting against the bill. At one stage, Mulayam Singh had a verbal spat with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the leader of the house. A desperate Mukherjee appealed to Mulayam Yadav with folded hands to end the disruption.

Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Sharad Yadav, a bitter critic of the bill, was not present in the house. The protests began soon after the speaker welcomed special guests from the Croatian parliament to watch the house proceedings from a special box and made a reference to the International Women's Day Monday.

The scenes in the Rajya Sabha were also noisy. The upper house was adjourned for a second time after Samajwadi Party MPs disrupted the proceedings demanding job quotas for Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims.

When the house reassembled at noon, SP members started shouting slogans as some papers were laid on the table. In the event, no one could hear what Deputy Chairman K. Rehman was saying.

Minister for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath read out a statement on the international Women's Day. The house is scheduled to pass a bill reserving 33 percent seats in all legislatures for women.

But the SP MPs first demanded a discussion on the reports of the National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities headed by Justice (retd) Ranganath Misra that favours job quotas for Dalit Muslims and Dalit Christians.

The chair ruled this out saying no notice had been served for the debate. As a handful of SP members advanced menacingly towards the presiding officer, the house was adjourned till 2 p.m.

Earlier, when the house assembled at 11, Chairman Hamid Ansari read out a message on the international Women's Day saying that among others "women have to be included in the decision making process"

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) slammed the Samajwadi Party (SP), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) for tearing up the women's reservation bill that was moved in the Rajya Sabha Monday amid acrimony."The BJP has resolved to have 33 percent reservation for women in parliament. We back the government and we demand that they manage the floor properly to ensure that it is discussed and passed," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters here.

He was speaking after the house was adjourned following noisy protests by MPs from SP, RJD and LJP who tore up the document into shreds and hurled it at Chairman Hamid Ansari.

"We condemn their actions," Prasad said, referring to the parties resistance to move the bill that gives 33 percent reservation for women in parliament and state assemblies. "The bill is of historical importance.

"We will give the government unconditional support. Whatever decisions the presiding chairman would take, we would support it. We want that the bill debated and passed today (Monday)," he said.

Finally, amid chaos the Rajya Sabha deferred voting on the Women's Reservation Bill after supporting opposition parties insisted on a debate before it is put to vote.After repeated disruptions, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called a meeting of political parties supporting the bill where the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) said the proposed legislation should be discussed and then put to vote. The bill is likely to be taken up for discussion on Tuesday.