North-South divide

The passage of the Women’s Bill in the Rajya Sabha did more than put an end to a log jam of almost a decade and a half. It brought to the fore a stark but critical fact. The strongest opposition lay in the Ganga basin states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal.

There was a similar contrast two decades ago. Then there was a strong upper caste backlash in north India against identifying caste as unit for positive discrimination. Now the roles were reversed and some of the key actors of that denouement switched roles. Those who found a creamy layer essential to accept caste based job reservations saw gender as above all other divides. Conversely, key Mandal and Dalit leaders opposed privileging gender without attention to caste as sub set.

This pattern requires serious analysis. The picture of Brinda Karat of the CPM and Sushma Swaraj of the BJP hugging each other had to do with more than women’s solidarity. It is true both had fought long and hard for the passage of the Bill, often against a phalanx of powerful male political leaders.

But it is significant that neither party is fully at ease with the politics of caste based mobilisation. The CPM may have a substantial backward class presence in south western India but was a latecomer to the politics of caste assertion in the north. The BJP found itself checkmated most so in UP by the rise to power of the backwards and then of the Dalit groups. Both parties in their upper echelons and more so the Marxists have a distinct upper caste flavour.

Congress as always is a study in ambiguity. But to the extent it hopes to undercut the rise of the Mandal and Dalit parties in north India, it may be a bit late in the day. It is striking how Nitish Kumar has been moving towards backing such a bill since the summer of 2009. His political base was expanded by increasing women’s reservation in panchayats to 50%. Mayawati too has laid great emphasis on women’s empowerment and welfare in her fourth stint as chief minister.

The north-south contrast may well reflect the long term achievements of social and cultural reforms in west and south India.

It included a strong emphasis among other things on the education and empowerment of women. India’s first woman medical doctor and legislator was Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy in the Madras Presidency. It is notable that she was a from an agricultural community, not the priestly or service castes. Similarly, in the 1920s, EV Ramaswamy Naicker wrote of birth control as the right of every woman. Sans this, he felt she would be a baby production machine unable to realise her full human potential.

Even earlier in 1848, the radical social reformer Jyotiba Phule set up a home for Brahmin widows. The idea of caste-based social change encompassed the emancipation of women in general and the upper caste women in particular.

While there is no doubt that societies in peninsular India are gender biased, there is also a major contrast with north especially the north-west India. The further south one goes, the higher is the age of marriage for women and the smaller the size of the family.

This will also explain how the first parties to champion women’s reservation were in the south. NT Rama Rao brought in 9% reservation in the panchayats in Andhra Pradesh. In Tamil Nadu, J Jayalalithaa has built a strong social base among women voters over most of the last three decades.

The contrast with north India is stark. This is especially so in the former permanent settlement regions of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. In the north, the assertion of the Mandal classes took place much later coming to fructification only by 1989-90. Land reforms had broken the power of the old landed elites and enabled the rise of a new peasant class, which had the numbers and the rural reach to emerge as a political force. But in general the OBCs of north India were enfranchised late in the day: only in 1952 and after.

Few if any had the literacy and property to qualify as voters under the Raj, a very different picture from their south Indian counterparts. In the process it was the male head of the household who got the title to the land and the male offspring who had unequal access to schooling. This is changing and faster than many realise. It probably underlines Sonia Gandhi’s quip to Lalu Yadav that he ought to ask the seven women in his household what they thought of the Women’s Bill.

It is still unclear how the ruling coalition will bring round opponents in the Lok Sabha. While it may have the numbers for the Bill, straining relations with the 47 strong bloc of OBC and Dalit party opponents may make Congress a lot weaker. Unless it initiates a serious dialogue to assuage their sense of exclusion, the success of women’s reservation may deepen other cracks in the polity.