India’s inaugural female President and seasoned Congress figure Pratibha Devisingh Patil has sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi praising the administration’s push for a 33 percent reservation for women in the national parliament and state legislatures.
Patil held positions as a Maharashtra state legislator from 1962 to 1985, a member of the upper house of parliament from 1985 to 1990, and a lower house representative from 1991 to 1996. She also led the Maharashtra unit of her party and served as Rajasthan’s governor from 2004 to 2007, before becoming India’s President from 2007 to 2012.
This endorsement arrives shortly after the introduction of three related bills in parliament aimed at enacting the reservation by 2029, amid criticism from the Congress party.
