Click to play videoPoliticians have been debating for 13 long years if women should get 33 per cent quota in Parliament. After the new government was formed, President Pratibha Patil in her first address to the 15th Lok Sabha again took up the issue and declared that the Women's Reservation Bill is top priority for the United Progressive Alliance Government and will be passed in 100 days. But this was followed by strong protests from a few male politicians.
While Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief Sharad Yadav threatened to commit suicide if the Bill was passed, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh on Monday said that its passage would invite an agitation.
The question that was asked on CNN-IBN’s Face The Nation was: Is the Women's Reservation Bill an idea whose time has come?
The panel of experts INCLUDED: MP and JD-U chief Sharad Yadav, Congress leader Margaret Alva, SP leader Abu Azmi and Editor Manushi Madhu Kishwar.
At the start of the show, 46 per cent of those who voted in said yes, the time has come for the Women’s Reservation Bill to be passed while 54 per cent disagreed.
Sharad Yadav: Anti-women?
After Sharad Yadav made the anti-Women’s Reservation Bill statement in Parliament he has been tagged as an anti-women politician.
But defending himself the MP said he talks in favour of 90 per cent women population which comprises of Dalit, farmers and women from backward classes and areas because they are the real Indians. Yadav added that the women who are demanding reservation belong to the elite class and have nothing to do with the country and therefore he is opposing the Bill.
The leader pointed that women are still treated as slaves because the society believes in caste system and gender discrimination. He said a real change can only be brought in India when the countrymen fight against these biases and views. Women’s reservation in Parliament will not ensure greater welfare of women, Yadav emphasised.
Do women need quota?
Looking at the current situation Margaret Alva said that after 60 years of independent India, only 10 per cent women have been able to make it to Parliament.
Contradicting Yadav’s view on women’s reservation in Parliament, the Congress leader said that it is not about women’s reservation in Parliament but women’s participation in country’s political process.
Madhu Kishwar, who is critical of the bill, gave the discussion a new direction and said that she strongly favours the various special measures taken to enhance women’s participation in politics but has a problem with the way it would be done.
She explained that lottery based rotational system will mean uncertainty for sitting male MPs. And this would mean that that MP who will have to leave his seat will then bring his daughter, wife or any other relative to fight against the other woman in the constituency to ensure that he is still a part of the government.
Kishwar highlighted the success of women in politics and said that the success rate of the women candidates is twice as high as men in series of elections.
Disagreeing with Kishwar, Alva said it is not about nominating daughters and wives but about helping women get into elected bodies in larger number.
Male politicians protesting bill
Protesting against the bill, SP leader Abu Azmi almost tried to tear the bill in the Rajya Sabha. Replying to the question if it was a wrong way to protest, he said it was the manner the Bill was brought in the House that irritated him. The leader told that no one on the Upper House was intimated about the bill.
Talking about the bill, Azmi said that his party is ready to support the bill only if it has reservation for OBCs, Dalit and Muslim women within the quota.
Discussing Azmi’s point, Kishwar said that he is doing injustice to his own community by linking Muslims’ representation with the OBCs’ representation.
Explaining the present scenario of OBCs in Indian politics, Kishwar said that numerically the OBCs have been able to dominate the politics. But the problem is in the way they treat their women. She said that if they will always keep them in parda (veil) they won’t get any representation but if the SP wants they can giver 100 per cent seats to OBC women.
On this Azmi said that if it is made mandatory for all the political parties to give a certain percentage of tickets to women they have no problem with it. He raised question on Sonia Gandhi, Mayawati and Mamata asking that how many tickets did these women leaders give to women in their parties.
Bringing the discussion to an end, Alva said that the Bill has gone through a lot of discussion and now the time has come when it should be put to vote in Parliament and the result will say it all.
Final Web/SMS poll: Is the Women's Reservation Bill an idea whose time has come?
Yes: 46 per cent
No: 54 per cent
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