London: Accusing the political parties of double speak on the issue of Reservation for Women in legislatures, well known actress and Rajya Sabha MP, Shabana Azmi has said no political party is sincere about passing the requisite Bill in its present form.

"I feel that despite different political parties saying they are interested in the Women's (Reservation) Bill and they want to get it passed, it is just a superficial talk," the MP said in a BBC Hindi special programme, 'Aap Ki Baat BBC Ke Saath' on May 18 night.

"In reality if this Bill is passed, 180 male MPs would lose their Parliamentary seats, and it is natural that none of them would like that. That is why for one reason or the other, this Bill is not introduced. Men will not allow this Bill to be passed in its present form," she said.

She felt "either the women activists throughout the country could agree to bring down their demand from 33 per cent to something like 20 per cent or it can be implemented first in the political parties' organisations."

Asked why the Bill could not be passed despite three major political parties in the Lok Sabha – BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party), Congress and the CPM (Communist Party of India-Marxist)- supporting the measure, the actress-turned--politician said, "If they were really in support of the Bill, it would have been passed in Parliament by now".

It is a numbers game! And if in the numbers game, the BJP and Congress say they support the Bill, at least it should have been introduced by now.

PTI