Democracies flourish only if governments in power take on the mantle of a progressive collective, and thereby ensure that regressive mores that riddle a society are effectively countered. Otherwise the nature of a democracy itself shifts, from a beacon of progress and equality to a rigid, regressive polity that harbours ills and breeds inequality and injustice.

For instance two statements by Union Ministers this week are far reaching in their impact and repercussions. The first was by the Haryana Agriculture Minister who said that farmers who commit suicide are cowards. After an outcry in Parliament he tried to modify these remarks but the callousness inherent in the initial statement could not be rectified. In one statement the Minister brushed aside the many reasons for growing agrarian distress, and reduced the spate of suicides by affected farmers to a psychological problem with no thought for the economic reasons disturbing the farmers’ peace of mind.

This attitude can only breed injustice, and create disharmony in society that will eat into the foundations of democracy. It is a matter of record now that farmers take their lives in highly distressful conditions, and that governments need to identify the issues clearly and deal with these to ensure that this gross injustice is done away with. But the dismissive statement by no less than a Minister seeks to ensure that the blindfold of discrimination is not removed from the government&’s eyes, and farmers’ plight is not alleviated through a series of thought out and targeted measures by those in power.

The second statement – by the minister of state for home affairs in the central government – is on marital rape. This is again a shocker as it flies in the face of studies and facts. Marital rape is becoming an area of deep concern for women and concerned men across the world, with statistics for India registering a far from happy situation for married women. The government, informing Parliament that there was no proposal to criminalise marital rape, justified this with the amazing argument that seemed to suggest that this crime does not exist in India as marriage here is sacred!

This is again an ostrich-like approach, using the ‘greatness of India’ argument to hide what needs to be brought out into the open and dealt with seriously. Marital rape is an issue of growing concern across the world, with studies based on interviews and research in India identifying this as a major problem here as well. Marriage as an institution cannot be used to take away the rights of the woman; they are hers regardless. And a ‘no’ within marriage is and should be as powerful as a ‘no’ to sex outside marriage.

The government&’s attitude again ensures the enslavement – and if that word is seen as too strong by some, the subjugation of women to an oppressive patriarchal system. It has taken strong campaigns for governments, at the Centre and in states, to wake up to female foeticide, child marriage, sexual harassment at the workplace and rape – with laws having been brought to tackle these ills rather late in the day. And only after years of protests by women’s groups, and support in some cases from courts. The legislature and executive have actually been always the last to respond to issues concerning the safety and equality of women, with marital rape now being virtually rejected as a non-issue by the government at the Centre. 

The Women’s Reservation Bill giving 33 per cent reservation to women in legislatures is not being talked of any more. It seems to have died a natural death, following strong opposition from political parties. Parliament blocked the bill for years, with the executive thus being able to take the happy position of “we want the Bill, but what can we do” when the Congress-led UPA government was in power. The BJP led NDA government has dispensed with this tokenism altogether.

It does not need to be emphasised that countries that do not empower their women cannot progress. And the politics of such nations remain regressive, conservative and hence anti-democracy as it automatically is anti-equality and liberty where justice is the big casualty.

Women remain on the receiving end in India, with the situation barely improving except for their own efforts to seek education and employment. The Khaps in Haryana and Western UP, the vigilante right-wing groups preventing women from making their own choices, foeticide in Punjab and Haryana, molestation, harassment and rape on the streets and within homes and offices – these are widespread crimes that are not being checked as those in power themselves are not willing to take cognisance except through the reluctant passing of an occasional law. The implementation of the law is faulty, and discriminatory against the people – in this case women – it is passed to protect.

Clearly tremendous pressure needs to be exerted on governments to move away from these regressive positions. Of course it is difficult to say whether such pressure will work on political parties whose ideology itself is steeped in a regressive thought process, but then for the sake of democracy the effort has to be made.

The writer is Editor-in-Chief of The Citizen, a daily online newspaper.