The country is currently reeling under the waves to hinder the smooth adoption of Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha after its passage in the the Rajya Sabha. In a bid to draw a whole-hearted support on this score, thousands of activists recently joined hands in Kolkata to rally around the entourage of All India Campaign Reservation Express that touched down the city amidst a huge fanfare. After halting at different stations for drumming up support for the immediate adoption of the Women’s Reservation Bill, the “Campaign Karwan” programme had expectedly won the support of the intelligentsia, NGO activists, social reformers and welfare groups.
Responding to the overwhelming support elicited from the city’s socially conscious citizens, a visibly impressed Malini Bhattacharya, chairperson, West Bengal Commission for Women, said: “It is time for women to stand up and speak for their rights through constitutional means.
The adoption of Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha is a positive step in that direction. Women need to regroup their strength and mobilise resources to demand their rights that they deserve.” Bhattacharya put forth her comments on the burning issue to a select audience gathered in support of the Women’ Reservation Bill Caravan at a press meet recently held in Kolkata.
The programme was aided by the West Bengal Women’s Commission. In fact, the Kolkata chapter of the campaign was jointly organised by the Centre for Advocacy & Research as well as the National Alliance for Women.
The caravan, starting from Jhansi, had made a brief half-a-day stopover at the eastern metropolis. The event was attended by social activist Shabnam Hashmi, who is accompanying the caravan on the way to its chalked out destinations.
Hashmi, one of India’s leading social activists and the brain behind this unique Campaign Reservation Express said: “We need voices from different corners to reverberate in the air with their rightful demand for this bill. It’s a woman’s legal democratic right after all to be heard across the board and considered in equal vein like her male counterparts. Women’s voices aren’t feeble. Only the noisy barriers that try and muzzle their vocal chords ought to be mowed down at one blow. Women are debarred from opinionating, discussing and debating issues that affect their interests deeply and severely. Hence, women needs to strengthen its pitch to that degree of loudness which can more effectively and vocally convey their demands.”
She further added: “Besides involving other states, the voices of West Bengal find a significant place in the campaign and to make this movement successful, it is highly imperative to include all and sundry within our fold. As a matter of fact, both Bengal and Kerala have a fair historical track record of lodging a series of strong women’s movements that have essentially voiced concerns about their rights. Coincidentally, the first draft was written by the late veteran communist leader and senior Parliamentarian Geeta Mukherjee, who was rather respected for her life-long commitment to peasants and women’s rights.”
Hashmi forged a New Delhi-based human rights group called Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD) after a bloodshedding communal riot ripped apart Gujarat’s secular religious as well as political climate in 2002. Heading the body and having spent her time in the state during the last eight years, Hashmi confirms that ANHAD goes beyond frontiers, thus taking up issues with terror-victims and violence perpetrated against women.
“The fascist forces are very organised and massively gaining ground at the slightest opportunity to arrest a chink in the administration’s armour. It is a battle for the hearts and minds of the common people who fall prey to their continuous onslaughts,” she says.
Incidentally, the campaign Reservation Express has already been endorsed by a large number of women networks, organisations and civil society groups all over India.
The caravan was flagged off from Jhansi on May 20 and will culminate in Delhi on June 7.
It is important to get the voice of practically all the 29 states in order to accept and make this bill a law. Statistically, more than 50 per cent of the caravan members are subjugated Muslim women struggling to get equal citizenship rights and fight against social discrimination.
“The minority segment apart, other members include the downtrodden Dalit populace, internally displaced women, ordinary grassroot workers to young filmmakers. During the course of the programme, postcards and posters, with symbolic protests imprinted on them, were signed to be submitted to the Prime Minister.
This is the largest campaign for demanding the passage of Women’s Reservation Bill. The campaign is also a celebration of thousands of groups across India coming together as a unified single voice rooting for the under-consideration bill.
“It’s not only beleaguered women who are actively participating in this caravan, distraught youths are also tagging along the ‘Campaign Karwan Chariot’. Two Kashmiri teenagers have taken part in this movement. Their life stories speak of their defiance against all odds. Even they are fighters on a different plane. They live in bunkers as their once- peaceful residential area has now been converted into a war-ravaged zone. A youth from the minority community also offered his support in this campaign against religious massacre, hooliganism and abuse. In Gujarat, during the post-Godhra carnage riots in 2002, he was badly roughed up by the mobs,” says Shibaji Bose, spokesperson, Centre For Advocacy & Research.