By Amulya Ganguli, IANS,
The passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Rajya Sabha is a momentous, heartwarming step not only for India, but is likely to be an inspirational trendsetter for women’s empowerment in the entire region.
Although it is only the first step, the ripples from the smashing of a glass barrier are bound to be felt in virtually all areas of traditional male dominance. Like its democracy, therefore, India will also be a beacon in the matter of women’s emancipation.
The bill faces other barriers, of course, of which the securing of the Lok Sabha’s approval is the most crucial. But the expectation among its proponents is that the momentum it has acquired by clearing the roadblocks put up by its critics should make the subsequent passages much easier.
There are several misgivings, which are not unexpected because of the unprecedented nature of the proposed law. For instance, the 33 percent reservations for women mean that 181 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats, including 40 for Scheduled Castes or Dalits and Scheduled Tribes of adivasis, will be set aside for women. Since another 82 seats are already reserved for the Dalits and adivasis, it will leave only 280 seats in the unreserved category although women may contest these as well.
It is understandable, therefore, why the male MPs cutting across party lines are uneasy although the party whips have forced them to keep quiet. The fewer number of constituencies available to them are not their only problem. Equally unsettling is the fact that the 181 seats for women will not be fixed, but will be rotated.
This will mean that none of the MPs, either men or women, will be certain about their next constituency. As a result, they will not be able to nurse their constituencies in the hope of winning another term, as has been the practice till now. It is obvious, therefore, that a great deal of uncertainty will be introduced into the system, whose long-term implications are unknown.
It is the fear of the tremors which the new system will cause which led to suggestions that, instead of reserving seats in parliament, the parties themselves should nominate women contestants for a third of the seats. But the matter was never seriously pursued because of the difficulty of enforcing such a writ, which might not be legally tenable.
Other ideas like expanding parliament itself by another 200 seats or thereabouts were also aired, but did not find favour with the political class. In the end, it was the simpler move to reserve seats which was accepted although it, too, was challenged by the parties of the backward castes which wanted a separate quota for these groups inside the overall quota for women.
It was their protests which led to ugly scenes in the Rajya Sabha for two days, finally forcing the chairman of the house to evict them with the help of marshals. But during their demonstrations, they demanded that quotas should be set aside not only for the backward castes but also Dalits and Muslims.
That the bill will face further difficulties was evident from the fact that apart from the champions of the backward castes like Lalu Prasad of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Mulayam Singh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) voiced her dissatisfaction with the bill.
The abstention of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress from the voting was seen as a ploy to woo Muslims although she later ascribed it to a lack of communication with the floor managers. However, these signs of disquiet, along with the RJD’s and Samajwadi Party’s decision to withdraw support from the government, suggest that the ruling Congress may not have an easy time in parliament.
On the other hand, the support extended to the bill by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left introduced a new element of cooperation among adversaries. It may not last, but the show of amity between the Congress and its opponents led to a relaxed atmosphere that enabled the BJP’s Arun Jaitley to persuade Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to agree to a debate before passing the bill, an idea to which a tense Congress was earlier opposed.
A clear gainer from all this has been Sonia Gandhi because it was her insistence that the bill had to be passed, come what may, which forced the Congress to push it through despite the fear that its majority in the Lok Sabha might be dangerously reduced, exposing it to harassment by both friends and foes.
It was clear, however, that Sonia Gandhi was taking a long-term view to project the empowerment of women as her party’s contribution to the social and political scene. If there aren’t too many hiccups on the way of its implementation, she can bank on it as a surefire electoral gambit.
For the women of India, the sight of a huge influx of women into the august body of parliament will be an exhilarating sight, at least initially, irrespective of how they perform as MPs or what signs of improvement they provide. Since not only parliament, but the assemblies, too, will see a large body of women as members, Indian politics will experience a seminal, unexpected change.
India has been a land of surprises. Along with a powerful prime minister like Indira Gandhi and the presence of many other prominent women in public life, like Sonia Gandhi herself, it has also seen female infanticide and dowry deaths.
But never before has it seen so many lawmakers in its legislative chambers although the panchayats already have a large number of women members and office-bearers because of reservations. Even then, there is little doubt that the country is on the threshold of a new beginning.
(Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. He can be reached at [email protected])