New Delhi: Questions were raised in Rajya Sabha Thursday – as legislators debated the women’s reservation Bill before its passage – whether its Hindi nomenclature was detrimental to a woman’s dignity.
Congress MP Ranjeet Ranjan objected to the word “vandan” or “salutation” in the name “Nari Shakti Vandan Vidhayik”, saying the government was projecting women as “daya ki patra”.
Ranjan’s comments were fiercely countered by BJP President and MP J.P. Nadda, who said such vocabulary had always been associated with women in Indian culture. Nadda said the Bill’s name was also representative of the respect that Prime Minister Narendra Modi accorded women.
Debating the merits of the Bill, Ranjan said the BJP government “worshipped” women only when they needed female votes. “History is witness to the fact that whenever you need power, whenever you want to win, you turn women into a devi and start worshipping her. But it is actually a win for the men,” she said.
Ranjan questioned where was the BJP’s respect for women in Jantar Mantar – when female wrestlers were protesting sexual harassment from the grappling body chief – or when “out sisters were disrobed in Manipiur”.
“Where is your vandana when you protect a rapist for electoral gains?” Ranjan said, referring to the prolonged agitation before authorities acted against Wrestling Federation of India chief and BJP MP Brijbhushan Sharan Singh.
Ranjan said women had constitutional rights, and were not to be pitied. “Daya ka patra na mahila kabhi thi, na hogi. It is our karuna, our mamata, that we let ourselves be objects of charity to you,” said Rajan.
While supporting the Bill, Ranjan, who opened the Opposition’s debate, added: “I want to object to the name Nari Shakti Vandan Vidhayik. I feel this is a constitutional right. It’s not some divine gift. It is not a charity bestowed upon women by the Prime Minister and the BJP. I’m saying this as a woman.”
A critical Nadda said the word may be interpreted differently by different people, but “Nari Shakti Vandan Vidhayik or Nari Shakti Vandan make it clear how the government, the Prime Minister and our society views women”.
“If we look at Harappan times, the brass statue of the dancing girl shows how much independence our women had in society. Women’s stature fell when we went through colonisation and a period of slavery, then the purdah system. In Indian culture, she was seen as shakti and devi. And our vocabulary indicates the same. Gaurishankar, Girijashankar, Bhawanishankar, Sitaram, Radheshyam- and the world tells us ladies first? If this is not a joke, what is?” he asked.
Nadda added his government did not think women were disenfranchised or backward. “We see women as a form of shakti, as a form of devi and that is the outlook we have presented,” he said.
The BJP chief said it was wrong to think that any decision the government took for women was charity. “We are not obliging women in any way if we do something for their empowerment. I want to make it clear that a great, respected position has always been accorded to women in Indian culture. When the PM talks of women-empowerment, he talks about women-led development. He did the job of articulating our views on women to the world at G20,” Nadda said.
The Women’s Reservation Bill — the 128th Constitutional Amendment Bill — was termed as the “Nari Shakti Vandan Vidheyik” by the Prime Minister at the start of the special session of Parliament Monday. The Bill was passed by Lok Sabha Wednesday and was debated and tabled for passage in the Rajya Sabha Thursday.
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