Protest against quota for minorities, OBCs gathers heat
The Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan held a rally here on Saturday demanding the passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in its present form. The protest comes a day after the women panchayat members from across the country demanded quota within the quota for the Other Backward Classes.
The organisation protested against the demand for a quota for Muslim women in the Bill. Noted film lyricist Javed Akhtar, who spoke on the occasion, opposed the demand for quota for OBCs and minorities alleging that the demand for quota within the quota was a ploy to obstruct the process of giving political representation to women.
On Friday, women members of the panchyats participated in a national conclave organised here by Action Aid, a non-government organisation, to testify their experiences on how reservation in Panchayati Raj system has given them the opportunity to step out of their homes and work for their communities. They expressed their confidence that the reservation for women in state Assemblies and Parliament will allow them to fight against various social evils like caste and gender discrimination. More than 50 representatives from West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan had participated in the conclave.
They stressed that there is a need to educate men to enable them to visualise the immense possibility that the women’s reservation will unfold. It will, they said, change the entire society. They also demanded implementation of various laws which give women equal ownership of land and other family properties.
Babu Mathew, the country director of Action Aid-India called upon the participants to become an instrument of social change. He said that the entire struggle should be oriented towards eradication of poverty, suggesting that panchayat women should form land co-operatives which can go a long way in ending poverty.
DH News Service
