I am concerned about the Women's Reservation Bill that reserves 33.33% of the Lok Sabha and State Assembly seats to women. Now, before all of you ladies sharpen your knife calling me a typical MCP, let me tell you that the reason has nothing to do with my being a man. I respect women's abilities and am of the firm view that they are equal to men in all spheres barring none.
My reasons are different. Democracy is about making a free choice. There should not be any restrictions for the voter while making a choice.
We have 545 seats in the Lok Sabha including the speaker and the 2 nominated members. Out of this 79 seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and 41 for Scheduled Tribes - a total of 120. 33 1/3rd seats reservation for women means 182 seats in total, out of which 42 will be sub reserved for SC/ST. Hence, the total number of seats reserved will be 282 which is more than 50% of 545.
Any reservation, be it women's or SC/ST or OBC or minority (the last 2 a distinct possibility) reduces the voters choice. Why should Government dictate to me, a voter, that I have the right to choose from only women, SC/ST, OBC, Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Jain, Parsi etc......, and that too in more than 50% of the constituencies. This is ridiculous.
Instead of gloating over the prospects of getting 33 1/3rd reservation, the women of our country should demand equality. Abraham Lincoln did not ask for quotas for the Black, he asked for them to be treated equally. Gandhiji did not ask for reservation for the Dalits or Harijans as he called them. He fought for equality for them. He tore apart the caste barriers and fought for them to be treated on par with others. He wanted them to be allowed inside the temple just like any other hindu citizen. He did not ask for special darshan for Harijans. The political parties can suo motto give 33% of their seats to women candidates. Why limit to 33%, they can give 50 % or 60% or even 100% to women or anyone of their choice. But the voters be given the full range of choices. That is the hallmark of a true democracy.
What we need in our country is total inclusiveness, not exclusivity.
