We are for reservation, but we don’t want to beg for it: Mahajan

The three-day National Women’s Parliament (NWP) in Amaravati made a strong pitch for passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in Parliament.

Speaking at the concluding session of NWP, held on banks of river Krishna and Godavari, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan said reservation was a woman’s right which needed to be given respectfully. Addressing a gathering of over 22,000 women, including students and delegates from across the globe, Mahajan said empowerment was not woman’s “fight with man”, but whatever she “deserved”.

“We are for reservation. But we don’t want to beg for it. In Parliament, somebody tore papers, others raised slogans to undermine the meaning of it. We don’t want it like that... Respectfully, reservation should be given...collectively women have power to make it possible..,” she said.

The Speaker said that an event like NWP should be organised in Delhi with speakers and CMS participating in it.

“We have India Parliamentary Group that organises many events and we could do something like this in Delhi. Naidu ji canleadusinthisattempt.itisencouraging to know that women leaders have delved on the contemporary challenges in this event,” she said.

Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu too said that he wanted to see 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament.

The three-day event saw over 29 speakers from different fields deliberating on the various issues concerning women. Fifty-four round table conferences with girl students from across the country were also held during the event.