LOK SABHA ELECTIONS 2014 – WHERE DO WOMEN STAND?
16TH May, 2014… This day will be written in golden words in the book of Indian history, and we all are very well aware of the reason. The NDA is back into power after 10 years of UPA’s reign and the star campaigner Mr. Narendra Modi has accepted the Prime Minister’s chair with grace. The entire nation is busy in celebrating the victory of the Bhartiya Janata Party.
But very few of us have wondered,
“Where do we women stand in this election?”
Among the political parties led by women, only 2 parties have been able to retain their position in the statistics. Miss Jayalalitha(AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu, and Miss Mamata Bannerjee (TMC) in West Bengal are the only two leaders, who have proved their popularity among the masses in this election. INC president Mrs. Sonia Gandhi may have won her Parliament seat from Rae Bareily, but the performance of the party as a whole was definitely not up to the mark. How can one forget the much hyped BSP leader Miss Mayawati from Uttar Pradesh? Definitely the performance of the women leaders has not been very great this time. Who is to be blamed for this? It is a matter of great concern for the people of our nation. In fact, if one thinks at the grass root level, out of all the 1325 candidates who contested for the LokSabha elections this year, only 12% are women. When it comes to the Members of Parliament elected in the Lok Sabha Elections 2014, barely 20% of them are women. There are not enough representatives of the fairer sex in the government of our country. If we talk about history, we all know that till date, our nation has had only one female Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi. We call ourselves as proud citizens of a developing country – India. We boast about our high positions in every aspect and scenario of development. There has been a high upliftment in the literacy rates of several constituencies of India. But when it comes to answer the questions about the state and condition of women in India, nobody is there to answer any questions. Women lag behind men in many fields and occupations, sometimes due to their physical restrictions, sometimes due to the narrow minded mentality of people. If asked about my opinion, I would say that if somebody is to be blamed for the present situation, it’s the women themselves. Inspite of being “educated” and “literate”, we are not sure how to use our education.
Someone has rightly said,
“Education is the chief defense of a nation”
We are definitely on our way to give education to each and every Indian by “sarvashikshaabhiyan”. But as women, we are unaware of what we can do with this weapon. And this happens mainly because we under estimate ourselves. So, all the lovely ladies out there, gear up yourselves!!! Let us all pledge that we will understand our responsibilities perfectly and we will take our nation to the top, in each and every aspect. After all, we have our very own power and self respect with us. Let us all come together and take an initiative to make our nation a perfect one. So thinking optimistically, the next LokSabha elections will of course have more than 50% of female winners. And when it comes to politics, women must come up not only as voters but also as politicians, to lead our nation towards humanity.
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About the Author: This article is contributed by Neha Thakur, our Intern.
