Samikhsya Bureau
The timing that Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik chose to play to the gallery over the 33 percent reservation for women in Lok Sabha elections has indeed caught his critics unaware. Till the other day no body had any inkling that he would make such an announcement when the most political parties here are doing their arithmetic over candidate selections or some of them have already made the lists near final.
The BJD supremo today announced to field 33 percent woman candidates in Lok Sabha elections in Odisha and called upon all political parties to follow it. But the irony is in last 19 years even the BJD had never given significance to women and in 2014 Naveen Patnaik had fielded only three women candidates for Lok Sabha.
Addressing Mission Shakti convention in Kendrapara, Patnaik said: “I would like to announce here, the karma bhumi of legendary Biju Babu, that Odisha will send 33 percent women to Parliament in the coming election.
He said that Biju Patnaik in the 1990s showed the way to the entire nation and for the first time in the country implemented 33 per cent reservation for women in the panchayati raj institutions and also government jobs.
In 2012, the state government had enhanced it to 50 percent in PR institutions and last year taking the move ahead the Odisha government for the first time passed a resolution in the state assembly to provide 33 per cent reservation for women both in parliament and state legislatures, Patnaik said.
The chief minister said he had also sent a proposal in this regard to all the state and chief ministers.
Stating that if India is to advanced like China and America,the women empowerment is the only answer. The women of Odisha would lead the way in women empowerment in the country, he said.
The chief minister called upon all national parties saying that if they were true to their words, they must follow what they were propagating for women empowerment.
He further said his announcement of 33 percent seats to women in Lok Sabha elections in Odisha at the sacred land of lord Baldevjew would create history in the journey of women empowerment in India.
However, BJP national spokesman Sambit Patra criticised Patnaik for adopting double standards in his approach towards the women empowerment.
He said the chief minister had advocated 33 per cent reservation for women in both Parliament and state legislature but announced to field 33 per cent candidates only in the Lok Sabha elections.
As per Patnaik’s announcement, BJD will now field seven women candidates in the Lok Sabha elections in the state which has 21 Lok Sabha constituencies.
Now the bigger question is that the chief minister has also sounded the warning bell for at least about a dozen sitting MPs or the aspiring ones to get mentally ready to remain away from the Lok Sabha fray. Out of the 21 total Lok Sabha seats in Odisha, the BJD must field at least seven women candidates for the coming elections.
(With inputs from UNI)
