• Kavitha Reddy

Baba Saheb Ambedkar said, “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved”, which made me think what if Baba Saheb was there when the debate on the Women Reservation Bill 2023 was taking place in the new Parliament, or may be women would have got their due in 1951 itself if the Hindu Code Bill Baba Saheb presented was passed in Parliament and Baba Saheb did not have to resign.

Baba Saheb Ambedkar in his resignation speech said: “The Hindu Code was the greatest social reform measure ever undertaken by the legislature in this country. No law passed by the Indian legislature in the past or likely to be passed in the future can be compared to it in point of its significance. To leave inequality between class and class, between sex and sex, which is the soul of Hindu society, untouched and to go on passing legislation relating to economic problems is to make a farce of our Constitution and to build a palace on a dung heap. This is the significance attached to the Hindu Code. It is for its sake that I stayed on, notwithstanding my differences.”

Building a palace on a dung heap is exactly what the newly passed Women Reservation Bill 2023 (Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam) is all about, so much of secrecy and hype just to say that women will not get their due till 2029, making the women of India wonder why there was so much urgency to pass Tripal Talaq, Farm Bills, Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 and Article 370 abrogation, and like Mahua Moitra the firebrand TMC MP pointed out the government did not count even the cows before announcing the cow shelters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not know the quantity of black money when he announced demonetisation nor he told the people of India how much money came back to the banks. Union Home Minister Amit Shah did not tell the nation how many persecuted Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan have applied for Indian citizenship, and what it would cost the nation if 130 crore people stood in queues to prove their citizenship after the CAA 2019 was implemented. Union Government did not know the number of people who died due to Covid-19, nor do they seem to know the number of unemployed youth and the number of women raped every day in Amrit Kaal.

The Ministers and MPs in the Union Government who are quick to dig history, and who have great urge to troll and ask questions to leaders of the Opposition on everything— from t-shirt to DNA to family background to religion— did not even seek an amendment to implement the Bill with immediate effect.

New Parliament began with exactly what the Union government is known for, yet another ‘jumla’ and this time on the 50 per cent of the population of India who have been waiting for over 27 years for their voices to be heard in their Assemblies and Parliament. The current dispensation never stood for women empowerment, given the fact that its Parivar —the RSS— made no bones about defining the role of perfect Hindu woman, which is to be submissive and bear children to carry forward the Hindu family legacy. Bengaluru South MP had tweeted that he dreaded the day the Women Reservation Bill was passed, the current BJP IT Cell Head mocked the Women Reservation Bill in 2010 and even went one step further to tweet that Sonia Gandhi was holding the nation to ransom by forcing the Women Reservation Bill.

BJP MPs heckling the opposition Leaders during the Women Reservation Bill debate, especially the women MPs from the Opposition was disgraceful; the ruling dispensation using the new Parliament to play to the hate mongering gallery outside the Parliament was evident.

The Bill looked like a desperate attempt to the stake claim of the women voters who seem to be embracing the welfare schemes (which BJP calls as freebies) across different states and ‘Karnataka Guarantees Model’ becoming the campaign pitch for the Opposition parties in the coming elections.

The Modi-led government is falling short of explanation on why such an important and progressive legislation is passed and deferred till the exercise of census and delimitation is completed. Like the old saying goes “Justice Delayed is Justice Denied’’, the women of India have been silently contributing equally to the growth of the Nation, and participating in the democratic process without equal representation since 1947.

Baba Saheb said the Hindu Code was the greatest social reform measure, the Women Reservation Bill 2023 would be no less than second greatest social reform measure if it was implemented without any clauses, riders, and conditions, after all no law is written on the stone and improvements could have been made on a later date.

Speaking on the Bill DMK MP Kanimozhi rightly said, “Women do not want to be saluted and put up on pedestals but just want to be respected as equals”. ‘Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam’ is indeed a wasted opportunity and a deep insult to women of India by the majority men who have always been eager to deny and defer women their rights, unfortunately we do not have the likes of Baba Saheb Ambedkar to stand up for women and tender resignation in disagreement.

The Author is KPCC General Secretary and the ex co-founder of India’s largest staffing company and Green Activist. Courtesy: Salar, Digital English Daily, Bengaluru