Friday, December 18, 2009

Women rule top posts in India

Call it "co-incidence" or otherwise, a fact that cannot be denied is that women rule or occupy the top posts in political landscape today in our country - all at the same time.

Today, when the news broke out that Sushma Swaraj is the new leader of Opposition, a thought struck in my mind that all top posts are held by women in national politics.

WOMAN PRESIDENT: - Pratibha Patil


WOMAN LEADER OF OPPOSITION: Sushma Swaraj

WOMAN SPEAKER: Meira Kumar - who was unanimously chosen from all political parties without any opposition.


WOMAN PRIME MINISTER (PROXY): Sonia Gandhi (she ultimately controls the country as no decision passes without her consent).

All 4 women occupy very important posts in the country. Yet the tragic part is the place from where they rule - New Delhi is not a safe place for women. Every month or so, a woman is raped and city has become unsafe for women. With so many women on the top, we still don't see women walking safely in midnights. This is partly because of people themselves and partly because of an ineffective law and order system.

However, it is still a matter of pride that women have come to dominate such high political posts and definitely we are way ahead of so many countries including US, UK, Middle Eastern countries and many in Asia with respect to women occupying top posts - all at the same time...

Remember we still belong to the same country when people, mostly politicians used to call women "goongi gudiya" i.e dumb. This was used when Indira Gandhi was the PM.

With 50% reservation for all panchayats in many states, women have more space in politics than ever before in the past 60 years.