Politicians in India have tended to deal with women's rights somewhat
gingerly. In Parliament and state assemblies, we have in recent years
passed progressive Bills like the ones on domestic violence and property
rights. At the same time, relatively few of us have taken an
unqualified public stand. Of course, every time there is a Guwahati-like
incident, many of us do come out and make statements in public. But a
closer ins-pection shows that the majority of these can be classified
either as opposition statements against the government, or simple
fulminations reflecting public outrage. Very few can actually be termed
as unqualified support for women to dress as they please, and go where
and when they please, and still deserve the full support and protection
of the law.
There are, of course, honourable exceptions, but they are vastly outnumbered
by the fence sitters, and even by those who end up making the wrong
sort of statement and get tripped up by the media. It is understandable
that politicians hedge their positions, particularly when there are
loudly vocal illiberal groups to contend with. This is why many of my
fellow MPs from states that have khap panchayats, while personally
liberal and with modern ins-tincts, have been wary of commenting on
their diktats.
But there is good news too, and of a kind that
should hearten those who have faith in both economic and political
freedom. The ones who stood up to the Jamaat in J&K -forcing it to
clarify that the dress code was only an appeal, not a diktat - were tour
operators whose livelihoods were at stake. And the proof
that politicians can also be agents of positive social change lies in
reading between the lines of the khap diktat from Jind. It is no
coincidence that the same politicians who refrained from taking a public
stand against the earlier retrograde diktats, were quietly involved in
encouraging this progressive one.
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