Passing the Women’s Reservation Bill, currently in Parliament, will be the biggest joke. How many of us honestly feel it will fulfil the intended aspirations of all those behind it? If it is the wish of everybody that Indian women should be politically empowered and have their due share in the country’s political life, the problem has to be approached from a different angle.
Passing a Bill in Parliament will not assure women real power. If the nation is really serious about greater representation of women in Parliament and legislatures, the process should start at the party level.
What prevents the major political parties of India from making it part of their constitutions and obligatory to have at least a third of their nominees as women? When men vacate their seats, dummy candidates like wives, daughters and other totally unqualified members should not be nominated.
The effort towards ensuring greater representation for women has to come from the political parties — they should adopt greater women representation as their cardinal principle. No amount of thrusting it through a Constitutional amendment will bring in the desired change.
K Venkataraman, Mumbai
