By TCN Staff Reporter,
New Delhi: While common Muslim is unaware of the debates around Women Reservation Bill, educated and active Muslim women are all for the passage of the bill in Lok Sabha. However, they want some concrete mechanism to ensure the political participation of Muslim women and other excluded groups.
Zakia Soman, founder member of Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, largest mass organization of Muslim women in India while talking to TwoCircles.net said, “We support the bill and consider it a forward step towards gender equality”. “Having said that, I must say that there must be certain intrinsic mechanism to ensure the participation of women of Muslim community and other marginalized groups. Otherwise, it would not help much,” she clarified.
Welcoming the bill, Prof. Hasina Hasia, member of All India Muslim Personal Law Board said, “Women will certainly benefit from the bill. However, to elevate the Muslim community, quota within quota should be provide”.
Prof. Azra Razzak, former Director of Centre for Dalit and Minorities Studies and who was also part of Sachar Committee as Academic Consultant feels no need of quota within quota for Muslim women in the bill. “Muslim women are going to benefit from this bill as much as general women are. We have to change our mentality”, she told TCN.
Tahreek e Niswan’s UP state convener Tahira Hassan though not opposed to the idea of quota within quota for Muslim women and other excluded groups, she fears this might help the politicians to further delay the passage of the bill.
Meanwhile, Senior Journalist Arfa Khanum wants actions beyond reservation. “Only increasing the number of women parliamentarians is not going to empower women in real sense. We have to think and act beyond that,” she asserts.
One thing about which all are sure is that, the bill is pro-women and Muslim women are competent enough to participate in the electoral process if they are given fair chance.