Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad offers 'new deal' to Rahul Gandhi over Women's Reservation Bill challenge, clubbing Triple Talaq and others. Read the letter here

Union Law and Justice minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has replied to Rahul Gandhi over the letter the Congress president had written to the Prime Minister seeking the passage of the Women's Reservation Bill.

In the letter response issued on Wednesday that has been accessed by Republic TV, Ravi Shankar Prasad has, in essence, stated the following:

1. The Women's Reservation bill had originally been proposed by the Vajpayee-led NDA government and had been supported by the NDA while being passed by the Rajya Sabha in 2010. However, 'for reasons best known to the Government of that day, no effort was made to have the bill passed in the Lok Sabha'

2. He asks why the UPA didn't take the bill up for three years and whether the Congress and its allies will support the bill and not disrupt the house

3. He proposes a 'new deal' to Indian women, where not just the Women's Reservation bill, but also, the Triple Talaq bill with penal provisions and a law prohibiting Nikah Halala would also be passed in both houses. He has also mentioned other bills which the Opposition has earlier opposed.

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He writes:

Dear Shri Rahul Gandhi

The honourable Prime Minister has forwarded to me your letter dated July 16, 2018, addressed to him. The Ministry of Law and Justice deals with the subject matter of the Constitution amendment relating to reservation of seats for women in Parliament and State Assemblies.

2. The Bill was originally proposed by the NDA Government headed by Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee byt could not be passed for want of consensus in Parliament. During the UPA Government it was reintroduced during UPA-2 in the Rajya Sabha. Despite disturbances, the BJP and the NDA stood in firm support of the Bill and had it passed in the Rajya Sabha. For reasons best known to the Government of that day, no effort was made to have the bill passed in the Lok Sabha. The bill lapsed with the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.

3. The Government welcomes your initiative to support the Bill. However, the Government would like to understand fully the reasons why the Bill was not taken up for three years by the UPA government in the Lok Sabha and allowed to lapse. The Government would also like to know whether all your allies and other opposition partners, who are coordinating with you, will also be supporting the Bill and not disrupting the House as they had done on earlier occasions when the Bill was brought to Parliament.

4. Since you have shown your deep concern for support of women reservation in Parliament and State Assemblies to deal with the challenge of their inadequate representation in these bodies, I propose that both the national parties -- the BJP and the Congress, should come together and over a 'new deal' to Indian women to ensure equality and adequate representation. As part of this 'new deal', we should approve, in both Houses of Parliament, the Women Reservation Bill, the law prohibiting Triple Talaq and imposing penal consequence on those who violate the law, and the law prohibiting Nikah Halala. You will appreciate that the latter two not only give the women of the Muslim community an unequal treatment but also seriously compromise their dignity. As national parties, we cannot have two set of standards in dealing with women and their rights. We are already too late in conferring the right of adequate representation, equality in personal laws and doing away with such provisions which compromise with women's dignity. Another bill of significant social importance iw granting of constitutional status to the National Commission on Backward Classes. It also deserves your party's unqualified support for assured passage. The government would be eagerly awaiting for your response.

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Here are the letters:

On Tuesday, even as the BJP continued to pose questions over reports in an Urdu daily that Rahul Gandhi had told Muslim intellectuals at an event he hosted that the 'Congress was a party for Muslims', which, in turn, led the Prime Minister to ask in the context of the Congress blocking the Triple Talaq Bill whether 'Congress was a party for Muslim men only', Rahul Gandhi had tweeted the following:

Here is Rahul Gandhi's letter:

The Congress president had mentioned in his letter about how the ‘Women’s Reservation Bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha in 2010 but wasn't passed in the Lok Sabha and has now lapsed after the dissolution of the house in 2014. He remembered that the then leader of the Opposition, Arun Jaitley, had called the passage of bill in the upper house ‘historic and momentous’.

He also issued the following message to the BJP:

"For the skeptics in your party who oppose the passage of this transformational legislation, I would appreciate you pointing out to them that out nation's experience with governance at the Panchayat and Municipal levels, has clearly shown that women in leadership positions are more likely, than their male counterparts, to take decisions that further the cause of an inclusive and just society which is why this bill has the potential to transform governance in India."

And the following pledge:

“On the issue of empowering our women, let us stand together, rise above party politics and send India a message that we believe the time of change has come. Women must take their rightful place in our state legislatures and in Parliament, where they are at present abysmally represented”

Will Rahul Gandhi accept the 'new deal'? Comment your views in the section below