Congress Decision To Field 40% Women Candidates In UP Must Be Applauded
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
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By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-10-25 08:54:04
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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack
View all posts by this Author
That women comprise almost 50% of the voters, are more politically aware now and hence less likely to be influenced by male members of the family in their voting preferences and are grossly under-represented in the legislature, as elsewhere is belatedly being recognized by all political parties. Keeping this in mind and making a pitch to get their votes in the UP elections, Priyanka Vadra recently announced that the Congress will give 40% nominations to women in the elections in the state next year. She also unveiled a poster with the tagline "ladki hun, lad sakti hun" (I am a girl and I can fight).
With UP becoming one of the least safe states for women and rapes happening frequently, women are an aggrieved lot in the state. Although Congress is a marginal player in UP, her intent to nominate women candidates is likely to stir other parties into action and perhaps, even without coming to power or getting enough seats to make a real difference, the Congress would have done a huge service to the women of the state. If the people of UP send even 10% women candidates (from among the candidates of all parties) to the assembly, it would make a big difference.
Women bring fresh ideas and new perspectives to the political discourse, something that males, schooled in patriarchal thinking and ideas of male dominance cannot. It is necessary to have women legislators, not only to raise issues connected to women but also to give the viewpoint of women on matters of national importance and give their inputs on how the laws that are enacted will impact women. A country that is run by only the male viewpoint is less likely to care about its women and the issues that affect them with sensitivity and more likely to have laws that will discriminate against them. The Congress decision to field so many women candidates must be appreciated and applauded, more so because despite several attempts, the 33 percent reservation for women in parliament and state assemblies has not come through.
That this decision of the Congress has put other parties in a spot was evident from the swift reaction from the BJP. Prime Minister Modi, in his Maan Ki Baat delivered on Sunday, August 24, chose to highlight how the Army and the police were no longer male bastions and that women candidates were now being appointed in large numbers in both these services (although he forgot to add that it needed a prod from the Supreme Court to stir the government into action). This is the kind of change that is needed. Sending women to legislatures is one part of the the corrective action, the other part is keeping all their issues in the forefront of the national discourse. Hopefully, as parties recognize the voting power of women, they will also recognize their importance to nation building.
