This blogger has written this earlier but the issue is back again. Women’s reservation bill in the present form is undemocratic and elitist to say the least. It will be a regressive step and therefore all right minded people should fiercely resist it. Sonia Gandhi’s enthusiasm on this matter is dangerously misplaced. All the aspect of this bill has been discussed in and out of the parliament many times so this blogger doesn’t want to get into it but some interesting observation is worth noting. In the last decade or two people from the lower strata of the society have started to assert their right and refuse to elect people from elite section to represent them. Mayawati is a spectacular example of this. There are many leaders from lower strata as also some tribal leaders too, lack of space for leaders to grow among tribals by mainstream political parties over the years is one of the reasons for it to be hijacked by Maoists. Even the leaders who emerge get easily corrupted for favors on billion dollar natural resource (that is run by outsiders). The issue of corruption is all pervasive, and secondly lack of redistributive justice and policies have seen to that most political leaders from this section lack the economic clout that has become so important these days.
The national p
arties whether Congress or BJP or the Communists have strong element of feudalism in their structure. You just have to look at the socio-economic background of the entrenched groups in these parties to get a clear picture. In recent time their hold over the masses has been slipping. Women’s reservation will therefore help them regain that hold by pushing their family and friends. This is an uneven battle and issues of gender are being manipulated to serve their narrow end. The divide in the Parliament and outside reflect this reality. It is not surprising that most mainstream political parties are excited about this, they know thier benefit.
The power of money has been well documented in the recent elections, most of our MPs are millionaires (hows that for a country with 1/3rd having no access to next meal!!) and yes there is strong social context to benefits of prosperity. There is rural urban divide too.
One needs to just look at the enthusiasm of market media to be cautious. Clearly this bill is going to benefit their section, growing cynicism towards political class also need to be put into this context. Probably I am saying this umpteenth time: many in media are as corrupt, irresponsible and greedy as worst of us can be. Return of elitism will hugely help urban based media. Already you see favoritism shown by government towards one media over other. Home Minister (of
Women’s bill will have to have strong safeguards against misuse and benefits accrued by elite section (this has been the tragedy of this nation). This blogger is not a supporter of caste based reservation that is like replacing A with B. The bill must favor women who have proven track record of having worked at the grassroot decision making, meaning they should be members of Panchayaths or municipalities for a minimum period (to prevent misuse, this need to be objective). Increasing the reservation to 50% has been an amazing step (we need to thank Bihar- not Brinda Karat party ruling
If women’s bill is attempted to be passed in the present form it is an affront to Indian democracy and insult on its people. Sadly money power has seen a feudalist nature of parliament formation and therefore a very genuine threat that it could be passed. I hope this is severely resisted and all attempts made to block it.
To put it crudely 
replacing dicks with cunts is no gender parity (that is aggressive western model,
Women’s bill in the present form is seriously flawed and is nothing but symbolism at the expense of democracy- that indeed seems to be the only voice of millions of marginalised Indians who queue up every year in large numbers expecting some change in their godforsaken life. If any attempts are made to tamper, it will have to be done with utmost caution. Women’s empowerment sounds good but it has to be genuine attempt to bring parity and sensitive lawmakers. I don’t think the present bill does any justice.
PS: talking of dick and cunt. There is this girl, an artist, whom I knew many years back, she was more keen on installation work than painting and was quite outspoken. She once said to me “the difference between man and woman is that woman has got it pushed in what man has hanging out!” and added “they call it dick and cunt”. She probably was mildly drunk but she made lots of sense. Her works include being photographed with balls inside her T shirt!!. While the guy whom she stayed with expertised in covering his middle finger with saffron colored cloth and pushing it out his pant zip, photographing and then titling it “saffron dick”. He distributed that to everyone around. Presto we have all the making of liberal intellectual or maybe he is already one wonder how I missed it!.
