Over a thousand women assembled today to demand passage of the long awaited Women's Reservation Bill in the the monsoon session of Lok Sabha. The women who assembled at Mandi House came from several organisations and came not only from Delhi but from Haryana, Rajasthan and UP. Their demand: bring the Bill in Lok Sabha, discuss and put it to vote; we'd like to know who'd vote against it.
The women then marched from Mandi House shouting slogans, to Parliament Street where a public meeting was held.
The slogans, "100 me 33 leke rahenge", "aam sahmati ka bahana nahin chalega", "panchayat me aaye hain, ab sansad me bhi aayenge" rent the air.
Leaders of the participant organisations addressed the gathering -
Mariam Dhawale (AIDWA), Gargi Chakravarty (NFIW), Rita Agarwal (YWCA), Husna Subhani (JWP), Kusum Sehgal (Swastika Mahila Samiti, Leena Dabru (ANHAD), Elizabeth (Nari Shakti Manch), Anita Kapoor (Shehri Mahila Mazdoor Union).
Notable among those who came to support were Brinda Karat, Polit Bureau member of the CPI (M), and CPI (M) MPs PK Sheermati and Jharna Das.
Com Brinda Karat said that BJP's patriarchal mindset is the stumbling block. She lamented the fact that we are behind countries such as Pakistan, Nepal and Bangla Desh in terms of women's representation.
The participating organisations were: AIDWA,
ANHAD,
Feminist India,
JWP,
Leprosy Mission,
Nari Shakti Manch,
NFIW,
Shehri Mahila Mazdoor Union,
SLD,
Swastika Mahila Samiti
YWCA.
