"We shocked the Parliament": AIMIM MP Owaisi on voting against passage of women's reservation bill

AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi. File Pic

Days after his party voted against the women's reservation bill in the Lok Sabha, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday said that the 'two' votes opposing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam "shocked the Parliament." While addressing a public gathering in his parliamentary constituency, Hyderabad, the AIMIM MP said, "BJP leaders kept saying that two of our MPs voted against women's reservation bill. But, we shocked the parliament."

"A total of 450 MPs voted for and only 2 voted against the bill. Speaker Sahab said Owaisi Sahab, no one is with you, I replied, Allah is with me," Owaisi said. The AIMIM leader said that he showed the entire country that the BJP and Congress are together and that he is the only one fighting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"When everyone said 450 MPs were against me, I told the entire country that Congress and BJP are together, and Samajwadi (Party) and Congress are also together. I am fighting against PM Modi alone and you are all together," he added. The Women Quota Bill, which provides for 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha as well as the state legislative assemblies, cleared its final legislative hurdle at the Rajya Sabha on Thursday with 214 members voting in support and none against.

The Bill got the nod of the Lok Sabha as it was passed with a brute majority of 454 votes in favour and just 2, Owaisi his party colleague Imtiaz Jaleel, voted against it. The AIMIM MP defended his opposition to the draft legislation saying that it does not provide for a sub-quota for Muslim and Other Backward Classes (OBC) women.

Even as some Opposition members flagged concerns over the delay in implementation of the Bill, the Centre maintained that it would implemented after due process. The Rajya Sabha had earlier passed the Women's Reservation Bill in 2010 during the Congress-led UPA government but it was not taken up in the Lok Sabha and subsequently lapsed in the Lower House.

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