Will community, caste shortchange women?

Ironically, a progressive piece of legislation may end up unleashing regressive forces that could throw India back to the tumultuous days of the early-1990s

By Chandan Mitra

(March 14, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) A glittering road has been laid. But has anybody checked if some deadly landmines lie just beneath its attractive surface? That is the question that should seriously concern all those committed to the cause of political emancipation of Indian women. Undoubtedly, the Women’s Reservation Bill as passed by the Rajya Sabha on March 9 is an idea whose time has come. The Bill hung fire for 14 years during which successive Parliaments failed to debate, leave alone ratify, this progressive piece of legislation. First presented to MPs by the short-lived Deve Gowda Government, it was strenuously pursued by Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee during his six-year tenure as Prime Minister. But he was stymied by recalcitrant allies of his NDA coalition, apart from receiving only half-hearted support from the Congress. This time, the BJP was determined to get the Bill cleared and gave unstinted and unequivocal support to the UPA Government, ensuring a thumping majority for it in the Upper House. The reality, however, is that while a crucial battle has been won, the war is far from over. And the road ahead is treacherous because of hidden landmines.

The Congress’s characteristic churlishness since the Bill’s passage in the Upper House has generated considerable ‘badwill’ for the Government on this issue, compelling parties supporting the Bill to add ifs and buts that amount to placing a premium on creating a conducive atmosphere before it is moved in the Lok Sabha. The ink had not dried on the Bill’s victory certificate in the Rajya Sabha before Congress spin doctors came out all guns blazing to eulogise “Madam”, some Andhra Pradesh leaders suggesting, in their predictably sycophantic hyperbole, that Ms Sonia Gandhi should be bestowed with a Bharat Ratna immediately. The Congress president broke her usual reticence about speaking to the media, giving four consecutive live interviews to English and Hindi news channels, beaming from ear to ear and coyly accepting that she had pushed her party sufficiently hard to ensure the Bill went through.

Congress leaders went on overdrive to appropriate the entire credit for the Bill, acknowledging the role of the Opposition only when grilled by reporters — not the best way to create a conducive atmosphere for its approval by the Lok Sabha. A section of the captive media made it worse by virtually raising Ms Sonia Gandhi to the stature of Joan of Arc! Even the Congress’s former and potential future ally — the Left — was miffed by this one-sided propaganda, which sought to deny the role of all others in what was truly a collective achievement.

Heady with adulation, the Congress forgot that the bigger battle lay ahead. The Government succeeded in the Rajya Sabha by getting the BJP and the Left to support an official motion suspending seven rowdy MPs, following which the direction to marshals to physically evict them from the House was but a logical corollary. This could be done because their number was minuscule, and the disruptors were taken by surprise when marshals were actually ordered to throw them out. Wiser by the experience, the Bill’s opponents will surely see to it that the same tactics don’t succeed in the Lok Sabha. First, the number of dissenters in that House stands at least at 50 and may rise by the time the Bill comes up for ratification, possibly in the first week of May. Second, the Congress’s churlish tactics have sufficiently antagonised parties supporting the Bill for them to endorse similar strong-arm measures.

In fairness, the Congress alone should not be blamed for this unhappy situation. The Mandalite parties are determined to obstruct its passage despite being heavily outnumbered on this issue. Since Parliament’s rules of procedure categorically stipulate “There shall be order in the House” when a division (voting) is called, it would be totally improper to conduct this exercise amid chaos. In the Rajya Sabha, a desperate Chairman did attempt to ignore the din and commence division when seven suspended MPs refused to leave the House and their supporters joined them in making mayhem. If voting had happened in those conditions it would have been a most unfortunate precedent, especially because a Constitution amendment Bill of fundamental significance was involved. When it comes up in the Lok Sabha, physically evicting 50-odd MPs, including senior leaders like Lalu Prasad and Mulayam Singh, will be quite unthinkable. The BJP has already indicated it won’t countenance the use of marshals; the Left is bound to have the same view.

So what are the options before Ms Sonia Gandhi? Well, she can settle for the pyrrhic victory registered in the Rajya Sabha and try and put “anti-women” parties on the mat, politically. Alternately, she can succumb to their demand to incorporate quotas within the women’s quota. The second option is easier said than exercised. Till recently, the demand for earmarking seats exclusively for Muslims was rather muted. But now, with the Pandora’s Box of quota politics reopened, it has become rather vocal. The Mandalites’ new-found (and unlikely) ally, Ms Mamata Banerjee is spearheading this campaign, enthusiastically endorsed by those groups that want an OBC quota to be built into the Women’s Bill. Competing claims of diverse groups may present a bewildering and constitutionally untenable situation before the Government.

From all accounts the Congress is rattled by the adverse reaction among Muslims. In fact, that is a bigger issue than OBCs who already have sizeable representation in legislatures throughout the country. Under the Constitution, quotas cannot be earmarked on grounds of caste or religion. Any attempt to amend that stipulation would amount to tampering with the basic structure of the Constitution and hence get quashed in court. The judiciary’s repeated rejection of the Andhra Pradesh Government’s move to give four per cent reservation to Muslims in jobs and seats in educational institutions is clearly indicative of the legal difficulties that lie ahead were the Congress to propose legislative quotas for them. But given the increasing dependence of the Congress on Muslim support, the party might risk an adventurist confrontation with the judiciary. It may not succeed, but can go politically ballistic telling Muslims that it has its heart in the right place as far as the community is concerned.

Failing this, the option before Ms Sonia Gandhi is to offer employment lollipops to Muslims by getting the bulk of the community classified as SEBC (socially and educationally backward class) — the route controversially taken by the Andhra Pradesh Government. Now if a Muslim quota is sheared out of the existing 27 per cent reserved for OBCs, it is bound to generate a backlash among its current beneficiaries. With the Supreme Court’s order that the total quantum of reservations must not exceed 50 per cent, the Government would be in a serious bind.

The irony is that in trying to introduce a progressive law, the Government may have ended up stoking highly regressive caste and community passions that could well plunge the country back into tumult reminiscent of the early-1990s when Mandal and Babri became the divisive poles of Indian politics.