BHUBANESWAR: The special session of the Assembly to discuss ‘Women’s role in Indian democracy’ on Thursday turned into a turf war between the BJP and Opposition BJD and Congress with Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik launching a sharp attack on each other over neglecting women’s empowerment.
Initiating the debate, Majhi questioned the BJD’s claim of championing women’s empowerment through 50 per cent reservation in the panchayati raj system. He argued that the regional party’s stance changes when it comes to extending similar reservation to the Assembly and Lok Sabha.
“BJD leaders proudly take credit for reservation in panchayats but when the issue of reservation in the Assembly and Parliament comes up, they adopt an anti-women stance,” Majhi said.
The chief minister said that many senior leaders and legislators of the Opposition do not contest grassroots elections such as sarpanch or zilla parishad polls. “Even if there is 100 per cent reservation in panchayats, it does not affect them. But reservation in the Assembly and Lok Sabha will directly impact their political prospects. That is why they oppose this Bill under various pretexts,” he said.
Turning his criticism toward the Congress, which walked out of the Assembly for a brief period to protest the Keonjhar episode, the chief minister said the party once enjoyed an overwhelming majority in Parliament but failed to act on women’s reservation. “There was a time when Congress had more than a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Yet, they did not think of granting women their due rights. Today, they are pointing fingers at us,” he remarked.
Majhi said that true women’s empowerment goes beyond economic support and requires meaningful participation in decision-making bodies. He reiterated his government’s support for the Women’s Reservation Bill and expressed confidence that it would eventually be implemented.
Hitting back, Naveen lambasted the BJP government for its utter insensitivity towards women which was in “naked display” in Keonjhar. Citing the Jitu Munda case, he said, a deceased woman’s family was forced to exhume her remains to prove her death before a bank.
“Odisha’s head hangs in shame as a woman’s skeleton had to be exhumed by her family and carried to the bank to prove her death in order to claim her rightful dues. Such episodes tarnish Odisha’s image and undermine claims of women’s empowerment,” he alleged. Criticising the Centre’s move to link women’s reservation with delimitation, he termed it a clandestine move that could impact Odisha’s political representation.
