POLITICAL PATRIARCHY IS SACROSANCT FOR POLITICIANS
131st Constitution Amendment Bill collapsed in Lok Sabha in spite of extra-ordinarily brilliant track record of political management exhibited by PM/HM team so far like abrogation of Article 370, Waqf Act, Triple Talaq etc. If it was a political gimmick to tackle state assembly elections, it was not at all politically wise to proceed in this manner and postpone the issue for years.
Why was it introduced so suddenly ? Only to be defeated suddenly ? To shock and stun the Opposition or what ? Knowing very well it was not going to be a royal walk on Kartavya Path !! Were papers circulated in advance, all party meeting held, any public discussion held or suggestions invited from public as they do always ?
Why was no Bill presented to delete Article 334A of the Constitution to effect the reservation immediately ? Or they didn’t want Parliament to be declared ‘Arakshana Karyalaya’ ?
‘Nari Tu Narayani’ Bill was passed in 2023 itself, then why this repeat tagged with ‘Terms & Conditions Apply’ of delimitation ? What else was required to raise hackles and provoke all ?
Why didn’t HM loudly declare, delimitation is a Constitutional must. It will be done come what may, now it’s their choice whether they wish to swallow the bitter pill today or after 3 to 4 years ?
Why were productivity norms, performance appraisal not mentioned in the Bill with rules to be framed later by Lok Sabha Speaker ?
Was it not a huge political failure of BJP as they could not explain and convince Opposition effectively ? In fact senior journalist Pradip Singh explained it far better on Youtube in his podcast ‘Apka Akhbar’ than PM/HM and IT Cell of the Party.
Why have 33% seats out of 543 not been reserved for women given the ambiguity of 1971 or 2011 census as the basis ? Why at all raise seats to grant reservations ? Are seats raised to grant reservations in govt. jobs, educational admissions etc. ? Why such a blatantly discriminatory Bill ?
Why no Bill for mandating political parties to offer tickets to contest elections to the extent of 50% in LS/assembly elections as the finest way to ensure empowerment and abolishing political patriarchy ?
Why the Bill at all given several woman members in Constituent Assembly, President of UN General Assembly, two woman Presidents, one woman PM, two woman LS Speakers and scores of women in bureaucracy, technical institutions, healthcare, security forces in addition to scores of Rishika-s and Veerangana-s etc. from history ? When all professions are open to women with Supreme Court watching like an eagle to ensure fairplay, why should there be such a Bill at all ?
Is it a wise decision to raise budgetary expenditure to the tune of Rs. 2,500 crores to bankroll additional seats in Parliament turned ‘Arakshana Karyalaya’ and state assemblies ?
Has PM forgotten his own divine words ‘minimum government, maximum governance’ 2014 onwards or he had simply hoodwinked the nation then ?
May I remind him of the axiom, reservation does benefit handful of people albeit unfairly in short terms but destroys entire community in long term ? Is the PM indeed concerned about welfare of our deprived citizenry ?
May I also remind PM that in case of reservation, MPs and politicians shall ensure their wives get tickets to contest those seats and the scenario of MP/MLA couples sitting together in Houses or ‘MP-Patis’ shall be too common as nation has scores of ‘Sarpanch-Patis’ ?
Why such a Bill at all to amend a gender-neutral Constitution ? Wherever the Constitution is not gender-neutral, it ought to be and PM/HM must ensure that.
Is the Bill not a cruel joke on Hindu women when ‘love-jehad’ and other forms of their religious persecution have been rising stupendously all over the nation with only two CMs actively confronting all that ? Can’t PM just empower Governors to call central security forces to protect Hindu women when state police fail to act due to political interference ?
Brand new Parliament building shall continue housing MPs with patriarchical and misogynist mind-sets for another 5 years or so.
Finally, I conclude by quoting ex-Minister Meenakshi Lekhi, “Just leave women alone. They are already empowered. They know how to take care of themselves and others.”
By the way, what sort of people PM has as his advisors
? What’s their IQ ?
Hon. Prime Minister, you have a lot to explain your governance to the nation.
From The Think-top of,
Ramakant Tiwari,
New Delhi
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