Bhubaneswar: True to his penchant for delivering one-liners to the party rank and file on every foundation day since 2015, Biju Janata Dal (BJD) supremo Naveen Patnaik’s 2020 one-liner is ‘Fight for Women Reservation (or say empowerment)’. With the urban polls round the corner, he exhorted the BJD cadres to make this fight of BJD a movement of the people.
Addressing party leaders and cadres on the B-day of the regional party, Patnaik, who is also the State Chief Minister, asserted, “Women empowerment is always a very dear programme for me.”
Raising the pitch further, Naveen said, “BJD is a regional outfit. Still, my party will fight in every fora nationally for passing the long outstanding Women’s Reservation Bill in the Parliament that seeks 33 per cent reservation of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. We will become the voice of women, and make it a movement to accomplish the objective of equal rights for women in the arena of politics.”
In his nuanced politics address, the BJD supremo said, “In 2019 elections, BJD become the first party to give 33 per cent tickets to women in both Lok Sabha and State Assembly polls. In contrast, all the national parties (read as BJP and Congress) do only lip service. While they talk big in manifestoes, they fail to walk the talk when it comes to implementation.”
Reflecting on the issue of women’s empowerment further, the Chief Minister recalled how Biju babu was the first political leader in the country to introduce 33 per cent reservation for women in panchayats, zilla parishads and government jobs in the year 1992. He then asserted that taking the Biju legacy forward the BJD government had raised the reservation limit in panchayats and ULBs to 50 per cent.
Talking on women’s rights, CM Patnaik said depriving half of the population of their basic political right is not acceptable in a progressive society. He said, “For BJD, women empowerment is empowerment of nation. The SHG movement launched by our government has now 80 lakh women members.”
Why Naveen Harps On ‘Women’s empowerment’ Again?
As per political observers, upping of the ante on women reservation-cum –empowerment is an offensive strategy of BJD to counter BJP’s padayatra in all 147 constituencies on ‘safety of girl child and women’ in Odisha. The state-wide Padyatra was motivated by a call for justice for 5-year-old- rape and murder victim, Pari. The Congress party had also taken the cudgels over the rise in rapes of girl children and crimes against women in the State.
In order to turn the tables on BJP and Congress, the BJD supremo is believed to have picked up the women’s reservation-cum-empowerment topic to launch a counter-offensive on the regional party’s national rivals, feel observers.
Women’s Safety Vs Women’s Empowerment
Only recently, the nation saw how in the assembly polls in Bihar, where almost all psephologists had declared RJD as the winner, the silent voters – women – played the clincher in the actual results, which was even acknowledged by PM Narendra Modi. Taking the cue, opposition parties in Odisha have decided to make ‘women safety’ a mega issue during the upcoming urban bodies and district level polls.
In order to counter the incisive attack of opposition over the State government’s flip-flop on women’s safety and security, the BJD strategists and CM Naven Patnaik have decided to flag the issue of women’s empowerment on the occasion of party’s 24th foundation day.
The mention worthy fact here is only on December 14, the State’s main opposition party BJP had launched a padayatra and vowed to make the issue of ‘women’s safety in peril’ in Odisha a people’s movement.
Opposition Congress has also been raking up the women safety issue at the district level in the State since long.
Opposition’s Take On Naveen’s One-liner
The opposition launched a counter offensive against what they call CM Naveen Patnaik’s rhetoric talk lacking commitment. While the Odisha Congress termed Naveen’s Women empowerment talk a drama, BJP calls it BJD’s smoke screen.
“This is nothing but a smokescreen of BJD. The State government has failed miserably in ensuring safety to women and girl child in the State. The NCRB report is a testimony to the BJD government’s women empowerment model,” charged State BJP General Secretary Lekhashri Samantasinghar.
“This is all drama. The family of Pari is yet to get justice. Instead of reflecting on the efforts made by the State government to trace missing children like ‘Pihu’ and ‘Swati’, the Chief Minister seems to be doing a rhetoric act,” criticised Bandita Parida, Executive President of Odisha Congress women wing.