Bhubaneswar: A special one-day session has been scheduled in the assembly on April 30 to discuss women’s participation in democracy, a provisional calendar issued by the assembly secretariat revealed on Friday.The single-agenda session comes in the backdrop of the defeat of the women’s reservation Bill in Parliament on April 17, when the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill failed to secure the required two-third majority.Govt sources said a resolution supporting women’s quota and condemning opposition parties for not backing the Bill will be moved in the House. The session follows protest rallies across the state and the country against the Bill’s defeat. Women MLAs are expected to lead the discussion, after which other members will participate. Chief minister Mohan Charan Majhi will reply to the debate, sources said.BJP MLA Irasis Acharya said the party was committed to ensuring due political representation for women and that the special session reflected that resolve. Addressing a women’s rally on Wednesday, CM Majhi said the movement was not merely for women’s empowerment but for their rights, dignity and representation. He said the protests reflected a firm resolve for justice and would ultimately pave the way for change.Opposition BJD and Congress dismissed the move as political propaganda. Deputy leader of opposition and BJD MLA Prasanna Acharya said it would be the first special session convened only to create what he termed “false propaganda”. He said the govt had ignored leader of opposition Naveen Patnaik’s April 15 demand for a special session to discuss Odisha’s concerns over the proposed delimitation exercise, when the Bill was still under discussion in Parliament. “With the Bill already defeated, the session now served no purpose,” he said.Echoing similar sentiments, Congress legislature party leader Rama Chandra Kadam accused the BJP of using the assembly for political posturing. “Instead of implementing women’s quota after the Bill was passed in 2023, the BJP is indulging in political stunts,” he said.Countering the allegations, BJP’s Acharya said, “Increasing women’s participation in politics was a continuous process and the party would pursue the goal regardless of the Bill’s defeat in Lok Sabha.”
