One third of India is ruled by women today. This statement may sound bizarre but the fact is that between Mayawati, Jayalalithaa, Rabri Devi and Sheila Dikshit, they rule states which send 166 members to Lok Sabha and that is just under one-third of its total strength. These women head big states; UP and Bihar have determined prime ministers. Mayawati and Jayalalithaa are powerful leaders in their own right. Given her performance, Sheila Dikshit is better placed to face the coming elections in Delhi than her counterparts in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Vasundhara Raje Scindia and Uma Bharati are waiting in the wings to take over in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh respectively after the November polls. The Congress has declared that Sonia Gandhi will have to be the leader of any coalitional arrangement of which the Congress is a part. Agreed, these women do not represent the reality of women in Indian politics, where 55 years after Independence there are only 8 per cent women in Parliament and their numbers are smaller in state legislatures. Their entry into politics was facilitated by family or mentor and a feudal system remains entrenched, though once given the chance, there was no stopping them. Even Rabri Devi walked out in protest when Bihar was categorised as the most backward state at a convention, while husband Laloo stayed on. Last week the BJP mooted two variants of the idea to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in legislatures. One was to consider double member constituencies in 33 per cent of Lok Sabha seats, the other to increase the number of constituencies by 181. The idea is to allay the fears of men that the axe would fall on their constituency. That fear has been at the heart of the resistance to the Women’s Reservation Bill, first moved 7 years ago. Though the Lok Sabha Speaker called a meeting of party leaders, it is far from clear what the government has in mind. Will the double member constituencies be based on the earlier model followed for the Scheduled Castes? What happens to something like the MP LAD scheme? Will the two MPs representing the same constituency share the Rs 2 crore or will they be allocated double the amount? Will the two members contest elections as a team? There is a fear that the woman candidate will become an appendage to the male candidate, who will insist on a pliant woman rather than an independent one. Can this not be challenged in court as being violative of the right to equality guaranteed in the Constitution? Of course, the double constituency idea is not new. In the 1952 and 1957 elections, there were double-member constituencies where one member of the Scheduled Castes and a non-SC would get elected. The SCs were however dissatisfied because pliant candidates who played ball with the upper castes came to be elected rather than those who could take up issues that would ameliorate their lot. It was most often the upper castes who funded the SC candidates. The idea was abandoned before the 1962 elections. The system reverted to reserved SC/ST constituencies. Earlier, B.R. Ambedkar had argued during the 1930 Round Table conference for separate electorates for the depressed classes, as the SCs were referred to. The British agreed to this. But Gandhi resisted the idea, saying it would divide India and the Hindu community and he decided to go on a fast unto death which resulted in the famous Poona Pact. As for the BJP’s second proposal, it is not possible to increase the number of seats in Lok Sabha — though this is probably the best idea so far given our unwieldy constituencies — for the simple reason that Parliament has passed a resolution freezing the delimitation of constituencies till 2025. Even if political parties were to undo this, increasing the number of constituencies is not going to be possible in the 13th Lok Sabha. The final 2001 Census Report is not yet out. Delimitation of constituencies is anyway a hot potato with the southern states screaming that they should not be penalised for controlling their populations. The lack of homework on the part of the government only shows its lack of sincerity. It is clear that the pro-reservation noises are being made because the country has entered election mode. Frankly, no party is really serious about women’s reservation and that is the harsh truth women must face. They will have to devise strategies other than pleading with political parties to give them their due. Good or bad, Mayawati and Jayalalithaa do not have to beg today. They call the shots. As 50 per cent of the population, in a democratic set up, women must reach a stage where parties cannot afford to ignore them. They will have to become a vote bank.
