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Quota within a quota is fallacious logic
12 Mar 2010, 0734 hrs IST,
When a critical mass of 182 women enter Parliament and occupy one
third seats in state assemblies, it will include women from all
castes, Syeda Hameed
Member, Planning Commission
communities and classes. It will no longer be possible to sideline
Muslim women or, for that matter OBC women. The reasons are clear. The
reserved seats will be selected in some manner, such as drawing of
lots or hammering out a consensus . These seats will be rotated every
five years so that at the end of 15 years (or three elections) a woman
would have represented every single constituency in the country. The
men will have to give up their constituencies in favour of women, just
as they did with the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendment.
It is quite likely (judging from the panchayat experience) that men
will field women from their families in order to 'retain their seat.'
This 'advancement of family women' at the expense of the cause is
repugnant to all right-thinking people because the objective of
women's reservation is different. It is to get capable, strong,
articulate and right thinking women into Parliament, so that the
selection of issues, standard of functioning and calibre of debate can
improve. But the reality is that today, men, even those seven men who
created the ugly scenes in Rajya Sabha on March 8 and shamed the
nation, will be thinking about women in their circle in case their
constituency becomes reserved in the next election. They will include
Muslims, OBCs and Dalits.
Reservation within reservation is a fallacious argument. Groups
supporting this have deliberately closed their eyes to reality. No one
is asking the question that if empowerment of Muslim women was such a
burning issue for those who today are shouting from the rooftops about
'Muslim sisters' why didn't their political parties field them in the
first place? And if they did field a few, why give them constituencies
where they were sure to lose? Our responsibility is to begin preparing
lists of women across the country, Muslims, OBCs and others to ensure
that the dignity of Parliament is safe in the hands of women and men
of substance and dignity.
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