Former Rajasthan Governor and Congress leader Margaret Alva on Thursday criticised what she called the Central government’s delaying tactics on the Women’s Reservation Bill. Ms. Alva was speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival during a session titled “Women in Power”, along with British House of Lords member Helena Kennedy. During the discussion, Ms. Alva also recounted her fight to prevent the Rajiv Gandhi government from intervening in the Shah Bano case.
“My conscience still hurts that I let it happen when I was a Minister in the government,” she said, adding that she “fought till the very end” to stop the government from enacting the 1986 law that effectively reversed the Supreme Court’s decision favouring Muslim women’s right to maintenance.
On the Women’s Quota Bill, which has been in the backburner for many years, Ms. Alva questioned why, when the Bill had already been passed in the Rajya Sabha, the Lok Sabha hasn’t taken it forward despite the ruling party being in majority. “Why can’t we see a discussion on a Bill,” she asked. “Many say quota is not the solution. I believe we have to force men through reservations to step in, otherwise doors will always be closed to us.”
In September 2016, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, too, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi pressing the same demand. The discussion at the literature festival centred around the challenges women face to have their voices heard, and assert themselves, especially in politics and government, and also touched upon the debate on sexual harassment that started with Harvey Weinstein scandal.
The power structures, Ms. Alva said, were all male-made and made for the their own security, so for women to break into those structures is difficult. She pointed out that there are 9% elected women to 91% men, with the latter then deciding who should get electoral tickets, making excuses to deny seats to women. However, a survey done by the Congress, she said, had found that the percentage of women winning vis-a-vis seats given is higher than that of men.
When Ms. Kennedy asked her if she had ever faced sexual harassment herself, Ms. Alva replied with a resounding no. “Not that anybody has not tried to act funny,” she added later, though she would tell them off. “You have to say it yourself.”
When she was working with Rajiv Gandhi, she recounted, the then Prime Minister had once told her that she had a terrible reputation, that men felt she was anti-male. “It’s a good reputation to have in politics,” was her reply.
