BENGALURU: The JDS will take part in an agitation at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi soon, demanding implementation of the long-pending Women’s Reservation Bill, said former PM and JDS national president HD Deve Gowda in Hubballi on Sunday.
Many other political parties from different states too will be part of the protest, and the date is yet to be decided, said Gowda at a two-day Belagavi division level workshop for party workers.
“Two trains, each from Hubballi and Bengaluru, carrying our workers will head to New Delhi. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik and leaders from many states have spoken to me about staging the agitation to bring Modi government’s attention to the bill. I will finalise the date after after party workers’ meetings in Bengaluru and Hubballi, and after discussing it with West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal,” he said.
On International Women’s Day, Gowda who as PM tabled the bill for the first time in 1996, tweeted, “PM Modi has to make an earnest effort to ensure reservation for women. Our country can only be developed if women are socially, politically and economically strong. For this reason, when I became CM, I brought in women’s reservation in local bodies and government jobs in Karnataka.”
Former CM HD Kumaraswamy said, “Our party tried to bring it into force in 1996, but it has not seen the light of day. This government has worked on bills such as the CAA, so what is stopping them from enforcing the women’s bill?’’