The Hindu : Congress responsible for stalling Women Reservation Bill: Vajpayee

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Mar 21, 2004

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Congress responsible for stalling Women Reservation Bill: Vajpayee

BEED (MAHARASHTRA), MARCH 20. Blaming the Congress for stalling the Women Reservation Bill, the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said today that the BJP and its allies would pass the legislation after getting a decisive mandate in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

"It was the Congress which stalled the passage of the Women Reservation Bill in the Parliament," Mr. Vajpayee told a public rally here. "We were prepared for all kind of agreements to get the Bill passed, but the Congress foiled our attempts."

"Even some other political parties were of the view that the percentage of reservation should be brought down. The BJP was even prepared for this as we wanted to make a beginning."

Taking a dig at the Congress, Mr. Vajpayee said that now the party in its manifesto had promised that it would ensure the passage of the Bill. "But now the BJP and its allies will get enough numbers in the Lok Sabha so that we can pass the Bill on our own."

Supports action against book

Describing the Maratha Emperor, Chhattrapati Shivaji, as a "true nationalist and the greatest-ever war strategist," Mr. Vajpayee said the Centre would back the Maharashtra Government if it took action against a "foreign author" who had penned a controversial book on Shivaji.

"If the Maharashtra Government does not take action, the Centre would take action on its own," he told the rally where a dozen people were detained for slogan shouting in protest against his earlier stand that a ban may not be the right way to tackle such a book. — PTI, UNI

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