''Women's movement needs blessing of clergy''

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 18. The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Digvijay Singh, today said the clergy of every religion should be roped into the women's movement for greater social acceptance of the effort to empower women and accord them a status equal to men.

Addressing the valedictory session of the two-day-long meeting on Gender Balance 50:50 here, Mr. Singh said the clergy of every religion wielded considerable influence over the minds of the followers and were, therefore, in a position to influence their attitudes. Labouring the point, he said the women's movement needed the blessing of the clergy for wider social acceptability.

If he was strong in his advocacy of involving the clergy in the women's movement, the Chief Minister was equally so in rejecting the fundamentalists and their diktats. ``We need to take on the fundamentalist forces head on. We cannot have another Taliban in our country; be it in the form of groups ordering women to wear burkhas or telling them not to wear slacks.''

Of the view that women's organisations should stand up against religious fundamentalism - as women are invariably the worst affected - Mr. Singh questioned the credentials of such forces. ``Why should such groups decide what a girl wears. That's a matter of personal choice,'' he told participants at the

two-day session organised by the National Forum for Women's Rights.

While for the most part the Chief Minister spoke about the measures taken by his Government to improve the lot of women, he did touch upon the Women's Reservation Bill. Doubting the intention of members of Parliament, he said: ``They have a grand design to keep this Bill outside. Had they been interested, then the Bill would have been passed by now.''

Later, answering a question on his party's position on the demand for reservation within reservation, Mr. Singh said: ``The Dalits and others will get their due even under the current Bill. At least, allow the provisions of the 73rd and 74th Amendment to be extended to Parliament and State Legislatures first.'' And to a related query on the main reason for the delay, he quipped: ``Male mentality.''

About the National Policy for Empowerment of Women - which was approved by the Union Cabinet earlier this year - he said its implementation should be monitored by none other than the Prime Minister himself as ``this will send a message right down to the lowest rung of the administrative hierarchy that the Government means business''.

Somewhat differing with the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee's view of education being the key to empowerment, Mr. Singh said that while this was true, it had to be backed by social pressure.

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