While an enormous din and mayhem prevailed in the Indian Parliament over the latest WikiLeaks cable revelations concerning the vote over the nuclear deal, Congress president Sonia Gandhi in London was calm and relaxed. She even shared an occasional joke as she spoke about a subject which is as important (if not more) as the nuclear policy: Women — Agents for Change.

In a packed room, delivering the 14th Commonwealth Lecture, Mrs Gandhi got a standing ovation as she walked in, and her speech lived up to all the expectations that had been built up for a lecture from the leader of the oldest political party in India. She was not only optimistic about the future but also very positive about how far Indian women have come — hoping, at the end, that India would not only reap the demographic dividend, but the gender dividend as well.
Her speech was confident and comprehensive: though there were many in the audience who still doubted how far Indian women have actually journeyed, they were somewhat persuaded by her well-reasoned argument and it provided much food for thought. Whether it is non-government organisations like Self-Employed Women’s Association or uprisings like the Chipko movement, or important government measures such as the one-third representation of women in all elected posts in the panchayats, change had been delivered and it will lead to a rapid and progressive transition all around in India, which, as she pointed out, was a country where women were leading four important political parties.
And, of course, she expressed the hope that very soon one-third reservation would be followed in Parliament as well. So let us keep an eye out for that!
Mrs Gandhi also laid out an agenda for what the Commonwealth could do, globally, for women in the future. She stated that there was a need, firstly, to examine and expand the creation of more financial as well as political opportunities for women; secondly, there was a need to engage at making urban areas safer for them; and thirdly, to look at how the climate change endangers their lives and how to make these deprivations more gender sensitive.
Mrs Gandhi’s speech was both visionary and thoughtful — and as Kamalesh Sharma, the erudite secretary general of the Commonwealth pointed out, while all these issues were being addressed, he would press the agenda forward.
Interestingly, it was a speech that encompassed both history and literature, and Mrs Gandhi was reassuringly passionate about women’s advancement. In fact, for many, her ideation, interest and engagement was exciting. For those used to watching news clips of her delivering rabble rousing electoral diatribes, this was a refreshing change — visionary yet pragmatic, sensitive and yet humorous.
Mrs Gandhi recounted how at the 1985 Commonwealth Heads of Government Conference, there was a huge controversy about imposing sanctions on South Africa to smash apartheid. Only Mrs Thatcher was against this move. Shridath “Sunny” Ramphal decided that three heads of government, Rajiv Gandhi, Brian Mulroney of Canada and Bob Hawke of Australia, all three good-looking men, may charm her into changing her mind. Mrs Gandhi recalled with a laugh that Mrs Thatcher was unimpressed by the three “handsome” men, and refused to change her stance.
The anecdote evoked spontaneous laughter from the audience, but more importantly, through personalised narration alongside a global understanding of the subject, Mrs Gandhi was able to establish herself as not only a very successful leader of a political party but also as a skilled communicator.
It has been a good year for the Commonwealth to pursue an agenda of gender equality and persuade their member countries to take care to see that women get the prominence they deserve. The Prime Minister of Tobago and Trinidad, very-elegant Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the chairperson of the Commonwealth and secretary general of the organisation, pointed out that women like her and the Congress president are a clear indicator that the men running the organisation would be pushed into supportive roles like “book ends”!
Earlier in the week we also met with Queen Elizabeth at a reception on Commonwealth Day. I must confess that I (shockingly!) forgot to curtsey but I did congratulate her on her grandson’s wedding. After all, which grandmother would not love to be reminded of such an amazingly joyful occasion? But to our surprise, she was a little a reticent about it and actually confessed her worry regarding the public reaction to the celebrations. Possibly, she was anxious that at this time of austerity it should not appear as though the wedding is extravagant and insensitive. However, everyone was quick to reassure her that the wedding, in fact, will see a lot of celebratory street parties and dancing and come as a welcome relief at a time of stringent cuts and rising employment.
Because while things have changed in the last few years and the recession has sucked the pleasure out of mere “enjoyment”, no one can resist a whiff of romance!
However, Kate and William have already taken one very important step towards understanding that things have changed in the last one year: they have said that they do not want presents and would prefer donations to charity instead of gifts.

Meanwhile, the fact that the WikiLeaks expose in India comes just on the back of the Japanese nuclear disaster only serves to prove the worst fears for many of us regarding nuclear energy. Does India really need these enormously expensive (and potentially dangerous) nuclear power plants? Could we not have gone for greener, much more safer ways of bringing energy to the poorest of the poor?
Surprisingly, while most countries using nuclear energy are reassessing their future plans, the same rigorous re-examination and debate is barely happening in India. Green energy and alternate sources of power could be implemented, quite easily, because of the already low consumption of traditional fossil fuels in India.
But after listening to Mrs Gandhi, hope has arisen that perhaps, more compassionate, inclusive, “feminine” ecologically-friendly and environmentally-acceptable alternatives will be encouraged to solve India’s energy problems and possibly lead the way for a global solution. Her audience in London listened to her carefully, and hoped that those in India were doing the same.

The writer can be contacted at kishwardesai@yahoo.com