Women's quota Bill may sail through
Amberish K Diwanji in New Delhi
Former prime minister H D Deve Gowda is all set to introduce a cut motion against the Women's Reservation Bill, scheduled to be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
Deve Gowda and his Janata Dal are demanding reservations within the Bill for the Other Backward Classes and the minorities.
With the Janata Dal and other parties such as the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal set to oppose the Bill, the stage is set for a battle royal.
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has pledged to
introduce the Bill, which seeks to set aside one-third of the seats in Parliament and state legislatures for women.
The Congress, while expressing certain reservations, has agreed to support the Bill. Incidentally, the Left parties, in opposition to their allies - the Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party, etc -- will be supporting the Bill.
In fact, the Communist parties have been in the forefront in seeking reservations for women.
The socialist parties see the Bill as an attempt to reintroduce the control of the so-called upper castes into the Lok Sabha.
The Lok Sabha has seen a steady erosion in the number of MPs belonging to the numerically weaker forward classes and a proportionate increase in the number of MPs belonging to Other Backward Classes.
"It took the OBCs years to finally assert themselves politically," Janata Dal president Sharad Yadav told Rediff On The Net, "And now the upper castes once again want to regain control through their women."
However, the National Commission for Women, in the vanguard of those fighting for the Bill, sees it differently.
"How is it that the political parties that want reservation for Muslim women and Other Backward Castes have never raised the same demand for the men? Are we to believe that these political parties are more concerned about Muslim and OBC women than the men," thundered Dr Mohini Giri, chairperson of the NCW.
She feels that the issue of OBC and minority reservations within the women's quota is simply a ploy to stop the Bill from being passed. Her colleague in the NCW, Syeda Hameeda, agrees.
"There has been an entire Muslim philosophy against reservations. Maulana Azad had strongly opposed reservations for Muslims, so the present demand of certain Muslim sections for reservation is only a political ploy," she said.
Giri and Hameeda agree that in the women's reservations, it will be the forward castes who will have the initial advantage. But they insist that this will not last.
"While forward caste women do dominate the women's movement right now and hence will initially account for more seats in the Lok Sabha, that will not last," said Hameeda.
She adds, "After all, that was the case for the men also, but today it is the backward caste men who dominate. After all, every party will put up a candidate who has a chance of winning, and since backward caste women have far better chance of winning than some city-bred upper caste, it is the former who will enter the Lok Sabha in big numbers. After all, it is politics and every party will want to win."
However, Yadav says that if that is the case, then why not have reservations right away. "If, as they say, backward caste women will come up, then what is the harm in reserving a certain percentage of
seats for them right away. Why wait for the few years that it will take," he asked.
The NCW and other leading proponents of the Bill such as Geeta Mukherjee are dead against any quota within, saying it will only divide the women and weaken their movement. "Only the reservations for scheduled castes and tribes, mandated constitutionally, is acceptable. There is no need for any further divisions," said Giri.
Both the NCW and the socialist parties agree that the backward caste women are doubly depressed -- for their gender and their caste. But, apparently each feels that they can look after the women better.
"Let's face facts. Caste is a reality in India. These forward castes have done little for the benefit of the backward castes, and so why should we believe that they will suddenly look after our women," he
declared, "What instead will happen is that upper caste women will enter the LS, giving them a majority again, and vote on issues to benefit their caste and class."
Hameeda insists that the arguments only stem from the men's insecurity, and not for any real concern. "We seek reservation to end discrimination against women. If right now we allow a quota for backward caste women, the women elected will only be completely controlled by their menfolk," she points out.
What comes to mind is the ludicrous situation in Bihar where Chief Minister Rabri Devi is completely under the thumb of her husband, former chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav. Given the strong patriarchal and feudal system in the country, especially in north India, this fear is not true.
Unfortunately, the fear of the backward castes that by the stroke of a pen they will lose their hard-earned victory of having stormed the upper caste-dominated Lok Sabha, is also not unfounded. Upper caste women, especially in rural India, are not known to be particularly close to the lower caste women, more likely to support the existing system and set-up.
This has also given rise to the sentiments among many that the reservation issue is an urban issue, controlled by urban, upper caste and upper class women with little awareness of the situation in the villages.
Hameeda says that to alleviate the fears, they are willing to consider the various points.
"We can always introduce amendments to ensure that equal and fair representation is given to all, but let the Bill first be passed. It has been hanging fire and if it is not passed now, it will only make matters worse," she says.
Yadav insists that even within the BJP, the backward caste men were against the Bill, feeling that they will be the ones sacrificed to make way for the new women entrants. To prove his point, he insists that a conscience vote be allowed in the Lok Sabha on the Bill.
"Tell all the parties not to issue a whip and to allow all the members to vote freely. The result will be a vote against the Bill," he stated. It may be pointed out that the Bill was to be introduced during the United Front government's rule, but lack of support forced the government to withdraw it.
If the Bill becomes law, then out of 544 seats in the Lok Sabha, 182 will be reserved for women. At present there are only 42 women in the LS, which means in the next elections, suddenly 140 male MPs will find themselves sacrificed at the altar of women's reservation. Since these men will be the junior MPs, they remain fearful of their future. None of the party big shots are going to be dispossessed, and even if their constituency is reserved for women, party leaders will be accommodated in another constituency. This, perhaps, is the root of the problem.
Yet, given the fact that the BJP, the Congress and the Communist parties have promised to support the Bill, it is likely that the Bill will be passed, enabling Vajpayee to keep the promise he made to the NCW that the Bill would be introduced and passed.
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