Hyderabad:

Puducherry’s lone woman legislator, S Chandira Priyanga, resigned as a minister from the AINRC-BJP government alleging gender and caste-based discrimination.

Explaining her decision, the 34-year-old said that the ‘male-dominated’ political world does not let women flourish.

“Women are treated only as women. You may be educated, even come from a privileged background but the male-dominated political world conspires to treat you in such a manner as to break you. You do not get respect even if you are capable and doing your job well,” Ms Priyanga told NDTV.

In 2021, the Neduncadu MLA became the first woman to be made a minister in the union territory after a gap of over 40 years. Ms Priyanga was then handed the Transport portfolio in the N Ranagsamy-led coalition cabinet.

Ms Priyanga said that she had always been proud of her Dalit woman identity but didn’t think it would be used against her. “After resigning, I feel free now, to work for the people who reposed confidence in me and do what I set out to do,” the leader said when asked why she didn’t stay back and fight.

“Why should it matter whether you are a man or woman, where you came from? What should matter is whether you can deliver and work for people but that doesn’t happen. I couldn’t take the harassment rooted in patriarchy,” she said.

In her resignation letter, Ms Priyanga requested Chief Minister N Rangasamy to appoint a person from a Dalit, Vanniyar, or some other marginalised community as her replacement in the ministry.

She said in her letter that although she entered the Assembly due to her popularity among the people in her constituency, she, however, realised it was not so easy to overcome “politics of conspiracy and I could not fight against the big ghost of money power”.

“I was also targeted continuously and found that I could not bear the politics of conspiracy and the big ghost of money power any longer beyond certain limits,” she wrote.

Patna:

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday welcomed the women’s reservation bill brought by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, but with a few riders, including quotas for women from OBCs and Extremely Backward Classes.

The JD(U) supreme leader, whose party has 16 MPs in the Lok Sabha, also rued the Centre’s “failure to conduct the census, which should have been held by 2021”, after which fresh delimitation of constituencies in assemblies and Parliament would, as per the bill, precede the implementation of women’s reservation.

Nitish Kumar said, in a statement issued by the CMO, that there should be quotas for women from Other Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes.

“Had the census been held, the quotas for women would have been possible much earlier. The Centre must expedite census and also undertake a headcount of castes,” the Bihar Chief Minister said.

Notably, “caste census”, in which social groups other than the SCs and STs are also counted, has been a long-standing demand of Nitish Kumar, which was turned down by the Modi government, prompting him to order a similar survey of castes at the state level.

The JD(U) leader is backed by allies like RJD in contending that since the last caste census was held way back in 1931, a fresh estimate was “much needed”.

The opposition bloc INDIA, seen as a fruition of efforts of Nitish Kumar who began uniting parties opposed to the BJP after quitting the NDA, has promised a caste census if it comes to power after next year’s Lok Sabha elections.

In his statement, Nitish Kumar also dwelt at length upon his own efforts like bringing in quotas for women in urban local bodies and panchayats, as also government jobs, including the police department.

The Centre on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment bill reserving 33 per cent of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, reviving a proposal pending for years and blending history, politics and societal imperatives on the first day in the new Parliament building.

The women’s reservation bill, named Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam and introduced in the Lower House by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, will come into effect only after a delimitation exercise is completed and is therefore unlikely to be in force during the next Lok Sabha elections in 2024. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)