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Saris fuel empowerment bid

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Saris in different colours billowing in the wind at Jantar Mantar here might have painted a pretty picture on Friday, but the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) is all set to make this ordinary dress code of women -- the sari -- an important symbol for their empowerment. In an effort to put pressure on the United Progressive Alliance Government to fulfil its commitment on 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament, NFIW has got women across the country to come together to show their support for women's reservation by signing on the saris.

"We have got 2,000 saris from 26 States signed by thousands of women. We will present each Members of Parliament a sari and an appeal to pass this Bill. Those remaining will be handed over to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to ask him to make way for the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament. These saris are the voice of women," said NIFW general secretary Annie Raja

Bringing together women from Kashmir to Kerala and from Maharashtra to Manipur, NFIW hopes to be able to generate enough support to finally push the Government into passing the Bill. "The UPA Government must now demonstrate its will and get this legislation passed. The sari campaign is a follow-up to our hunger strike. We are the only women's organisation to have done this. We started in July and continued till August 9, which was the day that the Quit India Movement was launched. We wanted to say that all the MPs who are opposed to the Bill must Quit India," she asserted.

"All the politicians come out and say that they support the Bill. But they can never manage to get it passed in Parliament. We are saying that those who have reservation should be able to discuss it on the floor of the House," said NFIW vice-president Primila Loomba.

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