Govt with strong majority a must to effect change: PM

A "strong and stable government" at the Centre ensured that the women's reservation bill was passed in both houses of Parliament, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday, renewing the pitch for his party to be voted back to power in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections a day after the 106th amendment to the Constitution to reserve a third of the seats in the Lower House and state legislatures for women was approved.

The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam is not an ordinary law, but a proclamation of new India's democratic commitment, the Prime Minister said in his address to party workers at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headquarters on Friday.

"This is an evidence of Modi's guarantee of women-led development," the PM said. "The passage of the bill in both houses is proof that if there is a majority government in the country, important decisions can be taken. We never let anyone's political self-interests obstruct women's reservation."

A landmark endorsement of a decades-long crusade that was unsuccessful on at least six occasions over nearly three decades, the bill was cleared by the Lok Sabha with a 454-2 voting tally on Wednesday. On Thursday, all of the Rajya Sabha's 214 voting members supported the legislation, with no one opposing or abstaining after the House spent 11 hours debating the matter.

The legislation was stuck in Parliament for the last three decades due to the indecisiveness of previous governments, Modi said, and congratulated all women for the overwhelming support that the bill received in Parliament. "This decision and this day will be discussed for many generations to come."