Mumbai: On Tuesday, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar claimed that the Women's Reservation Bill has the full support of the Congress and its allies in Parliament, and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not been given an accurate briefing on the matter.
In addition, he said that the first steps towards women's equality had been taken by Congress governments in both Maharashtra and the federal level.
After Prime Minister Modi declared the Congress and its supporters in the new "ghamandia" (arrogant) alliance "reluctantly" endorsed the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament the day before in Madhya Pradesh, this comment contradicts Modi's previous remarks.
Pawar, speaking at a press conference, said, "PM Narendra Modi spoke of Congress and 'ghamandia' allies supporting the Women's Reservation Bill reluctantly." But that is not the case. We have all been 100% behind this bill. The Prime Minister was not given enough information. He claimed that the Congress government he led in Maharashtra had introduced the country's first women's policy on June 24, 1994.
In a similar vein, the founder of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) noted that the 33% quota for women in local governments was made possible by the 73rd constitutional amendment, which had been brought into effect by the Congress government at the Central level.
There was an 11% quota for women in the armed forces when he was defence minister, he claimed.
If you were wondering why Pawar was in Ahmedabad, he replied it was to open an industrial plant owned by a businessman from Baramati, not to meet with industrialist Gautam Adani. According to him, Adani attended the event as the honoured guest at the Sanand industrial estate.
In regards to the ongoing tensions between India and Canada, Pawar has stated that he will be fully behind the Indian government's stance.—Inputs from Agencies