Remember that dialogue from the movie, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara where Hrithik tells Farhan Akhtar, “Sorry mat kehena jab tak woh dil se naa nikle.” I guess it’s time we said the same to our politicians – “Nari mat kehena jab tak woh dil se naa nikle!” We are all going to be very tired of hearing the word Nari Shakti by the time the elections are done in Delhi. How many prizes for guessing that all this screaming of ‘women power’ slogans will really not amount to anything?
It is already beginning to seem like mere lip service. Given that this is Delhi we are talking about, it comes as no surprise that women’s safety and empowerment is a major poll plank for the BJP, AAP and Congress. But when it comes to ticket distribution, all three seem to have faltered in ensuring gender equality.
One look at the number of poll tickets issued to women vis-à-vis men, and it becomes apparent women power is exactly what they claim, just a poll plank. Not reality. Politics will continue to remain a male bastion, it seems.
The BJP, who is fielding Kiran Bedi as their chief ministerial candidate, has given tickets to only seven other women. On the other hand, they have given tickets to 62 men! The only saving grace here is that most of the seven women have been handed tickets to key constituencies. But after the PM made a big deal of Nari Shakti on Republic Day, something more was expected from BJP for this election.
Similarly, the AAP has given tickets to six women vis-à-vis the 64 tickets they handed out to men. In his defense, Arvind Kejriwaal told TOI that this number is higher than the three AAP women candidates who became MLAs in 2013.
The Congress gave out the lowest number of tickets, a paltry sum of five as compared to the 65 tickets they handed out to men. Explaining it, DPCC president Arvinder Singh told TOI that although they wanted to field more women, it was a tough contest and they had to go for candidates with potential to win the elections. Hence, the number came down. This is both offensive as well as a sad state of affairs that women still continue to be undervalued when it comes to taking up key positions of power and responsibility.
In the cases of all the three political parties, the number of women candidates amounts to less than 10% of the total candidates. This seems miniscule compared to the 33% reservation for women that is being advocated in the women’s reservation bill for Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
In fact, this episode once again makes a case for passing the women’s reservation bill that has been sitting in cold storage for ages now.
Despite all my reservations about the concept of reservation, it seems like the only thing that will help women have better representation in leadership. Or else, even a decade later, we shall be hearing the same excuse – ‘Women don’t win votes!’
Image Courtesy: BCCL
More on>> Balancing Act
