Women's Reservation: You Couldn't Find One Woman in 16 NDA States to be CM, Says Derek O'Brien in RS

The BJP could not find a single woman in 16 NDA states to become chief minister, TMC MP Derek O’Brien said on Thursday during the debate on the women’s reservation bill introduced in Rajya Sabha on Thursday, a day after it was cleared in Lok Sabha by an overwhelming majority. He advocated for the bill to be implemented in 2024 or to at least provide reservation to women in Rajya Sabha. Taking a jibe at women’s representation within BJP ranks, he called for one-third women to get elected from the saffron party.

“In 2021, before Bengal assembly elections, the men through money, media, muscle power, misogyny and mocked her (Mamata Banerjee): ‘Didi o Didi’. You broke her foot. Smashed it but she gave you an answer truly like a woman. The people of Bengal answered for her,” O’Brien was quoted as saying in an NDTV report. “After the election, what happened? Bengal’s health ministry, finance ministry, land, industry, commerce ministries are all headed by women. You could not find one woman in 16 NDA states for chief minister.”

He also quoted a news article in which Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath was quoted as saying: ‘Men become gods when they achieve womanly qualities, and women, when they develop masculine qualities, become rakshasa (demons).’

Taking a jibe at the Narendra Modi-led central government, he said: “You can build a new building, but first you need to change your mindset.”

The women’s reservation bill will provide for 33 percent seats to women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The Opposition, while it agrees with the reservation, has questioned the timeframe in which the bill will be implemented and has demanded SC/ST quota within the 33 percent reservation.

The bill once passed by Rajya Sabha and ratified by the President will become an Act and be inserted as a new article — 334A — into the Constitution. But, there are two major caveats. These are that a census has to be held, and only after that can the redrawing of constituencies take place, which is called delimitation. Both conditions are so far unfulfilled and can take years.

Under Article 82 of the Constitution and taking into account present circumstances, the census can only be conducted after 2026 — this pushes the implementation of the reservation to 2029 or beyond. The Centre has, however, said the census and delimitation will begin after next year’s Lok Sabha elections but implementing the women’s reservation may call for a fresh legislation.