“We Are Not Begging, We Are Demanding Our Rights”

New Delhi, July 29, 2010: Around 5,000 women from across the country rallied near Jantar Mantar with a slogan “We are not begging, we are demanding our rights”. 300 colourful banners with lakhs of signatures of women were placed on both sides of the road. The place was full of life with songs, music and women raising slogans demanding to pass the 33% Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha. The crowd got more excited when the celebrities and politicians made their entry to support the cause.

A delegation, representing 350 women’s and civil society groups from all over India, met President Pratibha Patil and appealed to use her good offices to get the Bill passed in this session of Parliament. The delegation presented a memorandum signed by thousands of women and men to President Patil, which noted that the "passage of the Bill in the Rajya Sabha has been a significant step, but the Bill does not become law unless it is passed in the Lok Sabha, and endorsed by at least 15 state assemblies." The delegates told President Patil that this is a now-or-never moment for the country. Passing the Bill would be a historic step, not just for India, but for the world. Said one of the delegates to President Patil, "It will be truly befitting if this Bill is passed under your presidentship as the country’s first woman president. The government should ensure that the right strategies are deployed to secure the passage of the Bill in the Monsoon Session."

President Pratibha Patil expressed her full and unequivocal support for the Women’s 33 per cent Reservation Bill. Speaking to a delegation representing the Alliance for 33 per cent, she said, "I am with you, as my speech to Parliament indicated. Women’s reservation is good for the country."

Even as the delegates were meeting the president, a mammoth rally of over 4000 people was taking place outside Parliament. The delegates presented with the president a special cap and umbrella which had the campaign message emblazoned on them. They told the president that it was symbolic of the demand of all the participants, including notable personalities like Sharmila Tagore, Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar, and prominent parliamentarians like Jayanthi Natarajan, Brinda Karat, D. Raja, and Christine Lazarus. The delegates expressed the desire that President Patil take their message to the political establishment.

Addressing the rally Annie Raja, NFIW said: “Today is a historical day. All national women’s organizations, other women’s groups, students and many others came together with one demand – to pas the 33% of Women’s Reservation Bill in Lok Sabha. We have been fighting for this since many years. UPA government has to take initiative to pass the Bill.”

Sharmila Tagore, celebrity: “Yes reservation bill is a unique step to take the women forward. It is a shameful thing that there are only 69 women in Parliament against 537 men. Our country has always been male dominated country. They always tried to make women sit within the four walls. We won the battle against the British. Now the fight to give freedom to women is still going on. The fight is there at home, office, school and everywhere. I came to tell you that I am with you all in demanding 33% of reservation for women. This decade is meant for women.”

Jayanti Natarajan, “Since fourteen years all women’s groups have been fighting for this Bill. That is why we were able to pass this in Rajya Sabha and all Opposition parties have supported us. I assure you on behalf of my party that our efforts are there to pass the 33% Women’s Reservation Bill.”

Brinda Karat, MP and AIDWA said: “In the past we demonstrated many times on the Bill. It is just 10 steps or 5 min from Rajya Sabha to Lok Sabha. After the Bill has been passed in Rajya Sabha it has not reached Lok Sabha. There is definitely some political gap. It is not the question of men and women but the entire country. Women are resource of the country. They are doing injustice to the country by not recognizing them.”

D.Raja, MP: “The struggle for the empowerment of women, struggle for passing 33% Reservation Bill for women is not the struggle for women alone. It is the struggle of women, men and the entire society. It is a long drawn struggle from Comrade Gita Mukherjee. Rajya Sabha has already passed the Bill to provide 33% reservation for women. I hope the UPA government will take the Bill to Lok Sabha and pass it. As a Member of Parliament I saw what happened in the Parliament. I saw what happened in the Lok Sabha. I demand of 33% reservation bill to be passed. In fact women should get 50% reservation. They should get due place in the Parliament and Legislative Assembly.

Javed Akhtar “It is shameful to say that half the population of the country should get their rights. Now some people are showing excessive sympathy to women and they are demanding reservation within the reservation. I want to ask those people that why they never thought to give reservation to women from their 22% reservation.”

Dr. Vimal Thorat: “I want to ask a question from people sitting in the parliament-what kind of equal participation is this when we have to struggle this much to get 33% reservation?”

Ranjana Kumari, CSR and WPC said: "After 63 years of Independence also the fight for the women’s reservation bill is still going on. Prices are increasing, the situation of women is increasing and it is now time to give equal rights to women for the better future of the country. Shabnam Hashmi, Anhad said: "If Mulayam, Lalu and some Maulvis think , they can force women to sit at home, that women are there only to bear children…then they are wrong…When the constitution gaurantees equality to women…then who are these people." Madhu, Jagori said: "All capitalist powers are also supporting women reservation bill but women groups are fighting for this Bill for different reason. They want to abolish patriarchy. We want reservation for women from all communities through this Women Reservation Bill."

The delegation comprised 10 people. They were Anju Dubey Pandey from CSR, Annie Raja of the NFIW, Beulah Shekhar of the YWCA, N. Hamsa of WPC, Indu Prakash of the IGSSS, Jyotsna Chatterji, JWP, Mansi Sharma from Anhad, Pamela Philipose of WFS, Sudha Sunderaraman, AIDWA, and Suneeta Dhar of Jagori.

For more information please contact following persons:
 Ms. Mansi Sharma, Anhad (9818809018)
 Ms. Kalpana, Young Women’s Christian Association of India (9810026403)
 Mr. Amitabh Kumar, Centre for Social Research (9873620162),
 Or email: 33percentnow@googlegroups.com.