Conspiracy? ED’s Investigation and K Kavitha Hunger Strike

Kavitha leads hunger strike: In the recent past, women have emerged as a valuable vote bank, a section of society that every party wishes to woo. Women have been the reason behind different leaders returning to power, be it Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath, or Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself. Is Telangana CM K Chandrashekhar Rao also trying to create a women’s vote bank for his party for the upcoming elections? Or the protest seeking a women’s reservation bill was just a gimmick to divert attention from the liquor scam case. Let’s find out.

Politicians, images, and lies…

When we think of politicians, we often associate them with power, leadership, and the responsibility of serving their country and citizens. Unfortunately, many politicians do not uphold these values, and some even masquerade as honest leaders while engaging in unethical activities and blatantly lying to the public. Leaders lie for political gains, and this is well known to all of us.

India had its fair share of leaders who lied to the public to gain political brownie points. But, what is more common these days is playing along with the image, ‘The Public Image.” Now, you may ask, “What is an image?” and “How does it impact one on the political front? Creating a public image is the process of establishing an identity—one that suits you.

This can be the probable reason behind the Aam Aadmi Party boasting of having the best education minister in the world after his arrest in the Excise Policy case. No one said that it was the minister holding the excise portfolio who had been booked by the agency on corruption charges, and it had nothing to do with Delhi’s education minister.

On the other side of Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, KCR’s daughter K. Kavitha protested yesterday, demanding reservation for women. Was it a protest to remind the Narendra Modi government to bring out the bill from its slumber, or was it just a political gimmick to vouch for women’s rights just a day before her deposition before the ED?

Also read: Kejriwal under fire: Liquor scam rocks the capital

K. Kavitha sits in protest and hunger strike, seeking a women’s reservation bill

Kalvakuntla Kavitha, MLC of Bharat Rashtra Samiti, organized a protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, seeking reintroduction of the Women’s Reservation Bill in the budget session of the Parliament. Kavitha had organized the one-day hunger strike under the banner of her NGO, Bharat Jagriti. She said, “The women’s reservation bill is important, and we need to bring it up soon. I promise all women this protest will not stop until the bill is introduced.”

During hunger strike Kavitha claimed that the bill would help in the development of the nation. “If India needs to develop at par with global players, then women in Indian politics need more and more representation. Therefore, the women’s reservation bill becomes much more important. It has been pending for 27 years, and many women’s organizations have tried to work on this,” said Kavitha during the protest.

Opposition unites at Kavitha’s stage

The dharna was inaugurated by CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury. Extending the support of his party in the matter, Yechury pointed out that if women get reservations in panchayats, then why can’t they get reservations in parliament?

The protest was joined by many opposition parties, barring Congress. As many as 15 political parties have responded to Kavitha’s invitation to join the protest, while many joined at Jantar Mantar and released statements in her support. No representative from Congress joined in despite Kavitha herself having invited the grand old party to share the stage on the matter and having praised former Congress President Sonia Gandhi for introducing the bill in 2010. This is the first time that someone from KCR’s inner circle has approached the Congress party.

As in past years, KCR has kept Congress at arm’s length. Congress did issue a statement asking the central government, “What’s stopping the bill from being revived? The Congress did not come up in support of Kavitha, probably because Congress is still the main opposition in Telangana. So, can political differences stop one from coming together in issue-based protest? This we leave for the Congress party to answer. The other absentees were Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United).

Also read: Gangs of LiquorPur: Sardar Kejriwal and Ramadhir KCR are friends in this new epic saga

The politics behind the Women’s Reservation Bill

So, the central issue here is the Women’s Reservation Bill. Let’s first understand what the bill actually advocates for. The bill reserves one-third of the total number of seats in the state assemblies and Parliament for women representatives. This is not the first such attempt by the BRS to demand such a reservation.

The Women’s Reservation Bill was first introduced in 1996 by then-President HD Devegowda. The bill failed to get approval in Lok Sabha; it was referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee. The bill then lapsed and was reintroduced by Prime Minister Atal Vihari Vajpayee’s NDA government in 1998, where it again failed to get support and lapsed. In 1999, the NDA government reintroduced the bill, and then in 2003. The bill finally got consensus in 2010, when it passed in the Rajya Sabha. The bill then reached the Lok Sabha, where it never saw the light of day.

The parties may have marched up to Kavitha’s stage, but history tells us that the opposition parties could never come to consensus on the respective issue, and the Parliament has witnessed some gory scenes during the introduction of the bill.

For instance, in 1998, when Law Minister M Thambidurai introduced the bill, RJD MP Surendra Prasad Yadav tore the copy of the bill by snatching it from the speaker, GMC Balayogi. Similarly, in 2008, when it was introduced in the upper house, Congress parliamentarians gathered to provide protection to Law Minister HR Bharadwaj from Samajwadi Party members trying to snatch its copies from his hands.

Also read: Women’s Reservation Bill – A thoughtless idea that needs to be scrapped

A fight for women, or seeking to woo women voters back home

While Kavitha hunger strike: raking up of the issue may have put the NDA government in a tight spot regarding the Women’s Reservation Bill, it is interesting to note that from 2014-2018, KCR’s BRS did not have a single woman in the cabinet. It has also been alleged that it was done so to maintain Kavitha’s hegemony in the party, who was then an MP from Nizamabad.

Some pertinent questions have been raised by the Bhartiya Janata Party as well. The BJP has asked why the women’s reservation bill was not discussed at the cabinet meeting convened by KCR on Thursday and why the BRS MPs have never raised the issue in Parliament.

Further, several efforts have been made by the KCR government in Telangana to consolidate the women’s vote bank in favor of the BRS. This has been done through a slew of welfare schemes and development programs, such as the KCR kit. K. Kavitha’s recent uproar over the Women’s Reservation Bill can be seen in the same light as Telangana elections are just a few months away and KCR is facing a high anti-incumbency wave.

Also read: Amit Shah’s clear stance – No modernization without women

The timing raises questions

The timing of the protest has also been called into question by political observers, as for the past few years the BRS or any of its leaders have never uttered a word about reservation for women. The sudden protest was launched just after K. Kavitha got summoned by the Enforcement Directorate in relation to the Delhi Excise Policy.

K. Kavitha would be questioned by the agency on March 11, and the protest had been organized just a day before. The central investigative agencies have alleged that the BRS MLC has been a part of the liquor lobby, which they have dubbed the “south cartel,” that benefited from the kickbacks in the liquor policy brought in by the Delhi government.

Go back and read about the political representation of women in India. Well, let me make it easier for you; it’s less than 15%. So, here arises one more question. Why did the Narendra Modi government, despite having a majority, not introduce the Women’s Reservation Bill? Well, they do have the largest number of women in the cabinet to date.

But can a bill bring political representation? Wouldn’t reserving seats bring back the situation of ‘Pradhaan-Pati?’ You must be aware of the concept. On the seats that were reserved for women in panchayat elections, the men used to field their wives or mothers while keeping all the control in their own hands. What are the steps to fight that? Think about it. India does not only need a bill; it also needs some leaders who would open the door for women without any hesitation. India also needs women willing to take up political responsibility and fulfill it.