Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Finance Minister, hailed the administration of late former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao on Thursday for introducing 33% women’s reservation in panchayat raj at the time.

“I want to give credit to the government of former Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao for implementing 33% reservation in the panchayat raj at that time. Because of this, we have seen a groundswell at the panchayat level, where 33 percent reservation has now been enhanced to 50% by many states, demonstrating the participation of women at the panchayat level, Sitharaman said in a Rajya Sabha speech on the women’s reservation bill.

PV Narasimha Rao was in office as India’s prime minister from June 1991 to May 1996.

Then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi first submitted Constitution Amendment Bills for one-third reservation in panchayats and nagar palikas in May 1989. While the measures were approved by the Lok Sabha, they were rejected by the Rajya Sabha in September 1989.

In order to achieve a one-third reservation for women in panchayats and nagar palikas, Narasimha Rao reintroduced these Constitution Amendment Bills in April 1993. This time, both bills made it through the legislative process and were signed into law.

In the meantime, Rajya Sabha MPs on Thursday endorsed the Bill to provide women 33% of the seats in the lower house of parliament and state legislatures, regardless of their political affiliation.

The discussion in Rajya Sabha also emphasized the need to adopt the women’s reservation bill as soon as possible rather than waiting for a new census and delimitation procedure.

While supporting the bill, parties like JDU, BRS, CPI(M), and others made fun of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), stating that the incumbent party had pledged to introduce the women’s reservation bill in 2014 and again in 2019 but did nothing to follow through. They also questioned when the “Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam” will be introduced.

Manoj Jha, a member of parliament for the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), urged that a select committee be given the task of reviewing whether to give similar protections to Other Backward Classes.

Senior Congressman KC Venugopal pushed for the law’s swift implementation. In the Bill, he also called for reservations for OBC women. The Lok Sabha passed the women’s reservation bill with 454 members voting in favor and two against.