Turn the Tide

Women's reservation can radically change the character and essence of Indian politics and civil society for all times to come. Backed by Rahul Gandhi, that is Sonia Gandhi's trump card, for both the party and a soulless UPA regime
Sanjay Kapoor Delhi

Over the last many years, 10, Janpath, the official residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, has been witness to many celebrations. Every time the choreography is similar: men and women dance to the beats of the nagaras or drums and there is a customary bursting of crackers. On the day when the Women's Reservation Bill was passed in Rajya Sabha on March 9, 2010, the ecstatic women were not dancing to anyone's tune. They were lighting crackers and boisterously cheering Sonia Gandhi for ramming the bill on a reluctant government and some of the opposition parties. This time men were not participants, but mute spectators.

The Women's Reservation Bill, which was dramatically passed in the Rajya Sabha after initial dithering by the government, is going to change the way politics is conducted in the country. It will not only reorder the composition of Parliament, but also of the political parties. 

More women entering Parliament and political process would temper a criminalised masculinity that has been relentlessly subverting democracy and disenfranchising the weak and dispossessed. In other words, women's reservation with warts and all is an extremely radical and revolutionary bill that gives precedence to politics over the business of running the government. 

Sources claiming proximity to the Congress president claim that Sonia Gandhi was so adamant about the passage of the bill that she was willing to go for broke if there was a dissonance within her party. Advice that rushing the bill could undermine the stability of the government was brushed aside. In other words, she was willing to forsake her government if the bill was not passed. It was then that the government relented and got down to serious floor management in Rajya Sabha.