The Hindu : Front Page : 33% BJP posts for women

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 26, 2007
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33% BJP posts for women

Neena Vyas

Sushma Swaraj to head committee

NEW DELHI:

Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh announced here on Monday that 33 per cent of party positions would be allotted to women, right from the block level in States to all committees and bodies at the central party level.

A committee with Sushma Swaraj as convener was being set up to suggest how to go about this, party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said. Mr. Singh was keen that his decision was implemented quickly, certainly before the next Lok Sabha election in 2009, he added.

The announcement was made by Mr. Singh during his address to the party’s national executive committee meeting that got under way here on Monday.

Senior party leaders said the Congress had a woman president in Sonia Gandhi. In post-Independence India, Indira Gandhi was party president and Prime Minister. Now, the Congress had taken the lead in attempting to give India its first woman President.

The BJP was concerned that the Congress might be successful in mobilising a large section of women’s vote.

The BJP said that while the National Democratic Alliance had tried in Parliament to get a bill passed for reservation for women, the UPA Government had not gone that so far.

By giving one-third of all party positions to women, the BJP wants to send out a strong political message that it is serious about empowering women politically.

Double membership

Mr. Singh emphasised that the party must double its present membership of 2.5 crore to five crore, and attempt to enrol one crore youth and one crore women as new members. The BJP seems to realise that it has to present a young profile in tune with the changing demography and a larger number of younger voters entering the electoral rolls.

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