ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

NCW castigates 'patriarchal conspiracy'

The National Commission for Women has given a call to women all over the country to assert their democratic rights and protest against the 'patriarchal conspiracy' of parliamentarians in not allowing the Women's Reservation Bill to be introduced in the Lok Sabha.

''If the Women's Reservation Bill is not passed in the current session, the NCW will, in accordance with its mandate, give a call to the women of India to assert their collective will and ensure that each and every member who has opposed this bill never gets a single vote ever again -- neither from the women nor from the millions of men who believe in gender equality.''

Members of the NCW, who sat in the official gallery of the Lok Sabha as the tumultuous proceedings unwound before them, charged the parliamentarians with using "every method and means in the book to scuttle the women's reservation bill".

A few hours earlier, the NCW had met the prime minister who had assured the chairperson and members of his deep commitment to the cause.

''The question of reservations for minorities and OBCs is the most blatant form of hypocrisy. Why didn't they ask for these reservations in the general category all these 50 years? What do they care for minority and the OBC sisters when none of them bothered to give them a single ticket in the last election?'' the NCW asked.

Seven other women's organisations have also strongly condemned the government for its failure to introduce the bill in the Lok Sabha.

''There have been many occasions in the past where bills have been introduced in the House in spite of a lack of consensus. Clearly, the government failed to do so because of the lack of political will. We most strongly condemn the shameful behaviour of MPs belonging to those political parties like the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Janata Dal which made a mockery of minimum norms of democracy and civilised behaviour."

The very fact that Mulayam Singh Yadav had suggested a cut in the proposed one-third quota to 15 per cent showed that it was not the interests of OBC women that concerned them but the fear that the present male monopolies will be affected, they said.

''We urge the supporters of the bill in Parliament to ensure that the bill is neither diluted nor diverted. We urge that it be introduced without delay and then voted on. We oppose any suggestions which will delay the bill. We call upon women and their supporters all over the country to observe a protest and a demands day on July 17,'' they said.

The organisations were: the All India Democratic Women's Association, All India Women's Conference, Centre for Women's Development Studies, Joint Women's Programme, Mahila Dakshata Samity, National Federation of Indian Women and YWCA of India.

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report