Will the Women’s Reservation Bill prove to be Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “master stroke” in the poll-bound states? The BJP will, of course, be seeking to capitalise on it during the polls. The first political implication of the bill is being seen in Bihar where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced his support for the Women’s Reservation Bill. This is a setback for his alliance partner RJD.
This bill could not be tabled in the Lok Sabha during the UPA regime only due to pressure from RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav and SP leader Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Experts believe that Bihar might see some political realignment due to apparent differences in the ruling alliance over this issue. There is a little bit of a noticeable change in Nitish Kumar’s behaviour now-a-days. He has said again that the state polls may be held with Lok Sabha elections. If anything like this happens in Bihar, the BJP will count it as the first positive political outcome of “the women’s reservation move”. There might also be some rumblings in the Opposition I.N.D.I.A alliance.
After the Lok Sabha, the women’s reservation bill will smoothly pass the Rajya Sabha test, with Congress extending support to it. The Congress is also claiming credit for this bill. Congress former chief Sonia Gandhi in Lok Sabha said that the dream of her husband Rajiv Gandhi would now be fulfilled. She said it was Rajiv who had first brought the women’s reservation bill. Reservation to women in local bodies goes to the credit of Rajiv, she pointed out. BJP however claims that the present women quota bill is the brainchild of PM Modi.
In other words, political slugfest on the “Nari Shakti Vandan” bill has started quite before the elections. Congress knows that the BJP is going to cash in on the women’s quota bill during the upcoming polls.
The position as of now is that the BJP does seem to be strong enough to win in the forthcoming assembly polls of Rajasthan, MP, Telangana, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The BJP was desperately looking for a trump card which could turn the tides in its favour. BJP is now focussing on strategy to use women’s quota bill and PM Modi’s popularity in the upcoming Assembly elections.
BJP will reach out to women voters showcasing the Modi government’s bill to provide one-third reservation to women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies. At the same time, Nitish’s speculation about the simultaneous polls may also be a reality as the ball is still in the Centre’s court. If BJP does not perform well in MP, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana then it will have its bearing on general elections next year.
Despite facing defeats in Assembly polls in 2018, the BJP had registered landslide victory in the Lok Sabha elections in 2019. But the situation has changed now. In 2019, the big issues like surgical strike had helped BJP a lot. Now, there are no such significant issues that could give BJP a similar advantage. The impact of the issues like Ram Mandir and Women’s Reservation Bill could be known in coming days only. But these issues have given BJP much-needed hopes in the poll-bound states
