For these elections, a simple gender test…

All technical hurdles could be easily resolved if the parties themselves have the political will to brush aside needless controversies, like “reservations within reservations”, for so-called backward class and forward class. Or in promoting “women only constituencies” so that women are pitted against women. These are mere excuses to “kill” a good idea. We have no dearth of able and efficient women. And, in my view, merit should be the only criterion for selecting a woman candidate. The “saab ko puchho” mentality can have no place in the women’s struggle for their rightful place in the affairs of the nation.

Women can highlight the human aspects of politics far more effectively than their male counterparts. If women are legislators, stricter laws against social evils like “dowry deaths” and “gang rapes” are bound to be passed. Even in the Indian religious ethos, a woman Goddess known ‘Aadya Shakti’, is the Original Creator of Order.

In my view, we should transform Indian politics by making women a part of the decision-making process at every level. I, a senior citizen, would be inclined to support the party that fulfils this two-way test of sincerity, other things being equal. If women are not treated as absolute equals of men, all talk of “equality” and “democracy” will carry no conviction with half the Indian population: women.

Let me end by quoting a Sanskrit saying: Yatra Nari-stu pujyante, ramante tatra devta. Which means where women are revered, there the gods reside.

The writer describes himself as a crusader for women’s rights