Political Diary

New Delhi, 13 March 2010

‘Her’story Made …

BUT WILL MALES BE FAIR?

By Poonam I Kaushish

‘Her’story was made when the historic 108 Constitutional Amendment, Women Reservation Bill reserving 33% reservation to women in Parliament and State Assemblies was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday last, 9 March. Beaming women across the political spectrum enveloped each other in a bear hug. Even as their sullen male comrades-in-arm tried to maintain a brave face. Bluntly, the fair sex would no longer be pushovers or fair play. Instead would the men be ready for fair game!

Clearly, the credit goes to Congress President Sonia Gandhi whose stern “walk-the-talk-on-the-Bill-throw-out-the- obstructionists” diktat, made plain that her hand drives the Government. Ably backed by BJP’s Leaders of Opposition in both Houses, Arun Jateliy and Sushma Swaraj and CPM leader Brinda Karat. But in the bargain the Upper House paid an unprecedented heavy price when 7 Samajwadi and RJD raucous MPs who tried every trick in the book to stall the Bill, had to be marshaled out by 100 security men. On the facetious plea of wanting a quota-in-quota for Muslim and OBC women.

Make no mistake the battle for women representation after 14 tedious years and three failed abortions may have been won but the war is far from over. The Yadav trio, Lalu, Mulayam and Sharad have made plain that they would “die” but not let this “political dacoity” recur in Lok Sabha.

In fact, they have succeeded in creating a perception that the Bill was against Muslims. Wherein Congress Muslim MPs have joined the campaign to bring about fundamental changes in the Bill, before introduction in the Lok Sabha. Even in the BJP and other parties there is palpable unease. Leading to an uneasy calm and a standstill agreement to wait till tempers cool down and better fair sense prevails. Caught in this political ‘male’strom is remains to be seen whether the Bill with far-reaching consequences on the country’s socio-political structure would be put in cold storage for good or  men will play fair.

Those opposed to the Bill aver that once the rotational reservation of one-third seats in  legislatures for women every five years becomes a reality, sitting MPs and MLAs would not only have to look for  alternate seats but also the era of them nurturing his or her constituencies might  come to an end. Given that the benefits of good work would not accrue him a second term from the same constituency. And near his term end, the MP could start nurturing another constituency from where he  could stand from.

The reason why the Made in India regional satraps are crying foul is that the Bill threatens to deal a severe blow to them as their relevance is limited to certain seats due to their caste or religious profile. For instance while the RJD and SP bank on their sectarian appeal among Yadavs and Muslims, the Muslim League, AIMIM and Kerala’s IUML has no woman leaders.  All grumbling that the Lok Sabha would turn into a Hindu Lok Sabha.

Not a few argue that instead of having a separate quota for women in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, it would have been better if this had been left to parties to set aside 33% seats for women. Is it fair on a million-odd electorate in a constituency to only choose between two women? Or should they be given a fair chance to choose between who would do the best job for their constituency?

Proponents of reservation believe that the legislation would prove beneficial considering that the Muslim and caste-centric parties would be forced to look for competent woman legislators and not merely pick candidates according to which caste or class they belong to. Also it would give new candidates a chance to represent pocket-boroughs shackled by individuals/dynasties. A constituency monopolised by a family could see gender-reversal of candidates.

Further, it would strike a death-knell to the myth that reservations create a privileged society. The truth is that nature created women and men as equals which the Constitution endorses. However, thanks to Manuwadi women came to be treated as the lesser sex. Thus, affirmative action was an essential instrument to jump-start the process of equality. It would wash away the reality of inequality and translate it into a vision of equality. Wherein today’s unequal’s would become tomorrow’s equals in decision-making. Logically, too it made sense especially when demographically the ratio of male to women is roughly the same.

More. Many aver that rotation was the most suitable principle for sex-based reservation. It would ensure that in 15 years (the Bill’s life) each constituency in the country would send, at least once, a woman MP to the legislatures. This would increase the horizontal spread of activism. Also fallacious was the demand for caste-creed quotes as the Constitution provides reservation only for SCs and STs. Arguably, when there is no reservation for other communities, there is no reason why there must be quotas for women belonging to these communities.

 Additionally, most candidates selected by political parties would mirror the social character of the constituencies. Significantly, statistics of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh Assemblies show that it is not a disadvantage to be an OBC woman. In Bihar, out of the 243 Assembly seats, 24 were represented by women. And within this category, 70.8% of the seats were bagged by OBCs, SCs and minorities. In UP, the figure was an impressive 65%.

Importantly, more than anything men are fearful. Once 33% seats in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies become reserved for women, the sweep of male domination in politics would get dramatically reduced. Think. There are 543 Lok Sabha seats, out of which 122 are already reserved for SCs-STs leaving 421 seats for the general category. Take out another 181 seats for women and men will be left with just 282 seats in the open category, from where women too can contest if they so desire. In States, of the 4,109 seats in all Assemblies, 1167 are reserved for SC/ST. Women would now snatch away 1,370 seats leaving only 2,942 for men. This decimation of male power is a nightmare come true for most men in the lucrative business of politics. Hence, the desperate opposition to the Bill.

What next? True, as far as political messaging goes, the Congress has lot to cheer about. It has, to a large extent, appropriated the credit for ensuring gender justice. But the development has ended the Congress’ association with the “social justice” parties. But when push came to shove Sonia had no options as she had staked her personal prestige and her Party’s credibility on the Bill

Given the mood in the Opposition and the wafer thin majority for the Government, following the 26 MP strong RJD-SP now planning to play hardball, the BJP-CPM planning a cut motion on the price rise of fuel and urea and Trinamul’s mercurial Mamta’s inclination to rush in to a populist corner with little appreciation for the economic paradigm, the plan to grant women reservation could go awry if the Yadav duo sense that their jihad could succeed.

In the 543-member Lok Sabha, the UPA, on its own, has a strength of 268, four less than an absolute majority. The Government would now be critically dependent on BSP (21) and a clutch of Independents. The situation is more precarious in the Rajya Sabha, where the UPA is already in a minority. Leaving the Congress no option but to go slow and not rush the Bill in the Lok Sabha.

The Government is mindful of the troubles that this could create in the House where ‘naysayers’ have a larger presence and more nuisance potential. The Yadav satraps themselves are MPs’ of the Lok Sabha. In fact, Lalu has dared the Treasury benches to table the Bill. Notwithstanding, a section within the Party wanting to “brazen it out in the Lok Sabha” and ensure the passage of the Finance Bill et al.

 It remains to be seen whether the bill will end up as nothing more than tokenism. In a country that ranks 114th among 134 in gender disparities, it is imperative that we create a level-playing field. Good governance is not gender-specific. The big challenge now is to take the move forward, give a push for empowerment and ensure that the benefits the Bill is meant to bring about become a reality. Can we look forward to a naya daur kab? ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)