"Anek mantri toh dekhlam .... mantri hoeye ki korbo; tai neelam na (I have seen enough numbers of ministers in this life. What will I do becoming one; so I declined I K Gujral's request)," the veteran CPI leader Geeta Mukherjee told me around 1999.
I was about one-year-old in Delhi journalism having shifted from Nagaland in 1998 to join Press Trust of India (PTI).
I had met her in Constitution Club as she had come to attend one seminar on rural development. Her remarks were interesting and I sought her permission to quote her.
Madam Geeta Di declined.
Born 1924 - she was elder to my father by years. She laughed when I said "Madam Geeta Di" ... almost by mistake.
I said: "It is difficult to call you Didi because my father is younger to you". But I added - "My father has been an admirer of you".
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| Veteran Geeta Di |
I was not telling her a lie.
My father used to appreciate Late Geeta Mukherjee's way of speaking in Parliament though he did not get enough video clipping or live telecast of debates by Geeta Mukherjee.
During our interaction, as soon as she came to know I had come to Delhi having studied and serving in Nagaland for a few years; she recounted the 1996 letter sent to her as chairperson of the Joint Select Committee of Parliament on the Women’s Reservation Bill.
The letter was from the apex Naga Students' Federation (NSF) and the purpose was to oppose the Bill tooth and nail. In fact, a few weeks before the Nagaland assembly had passed a unanimous resolution opposing the draft law. The pretext was such a legislation was against the tenets of Naga tradition and culture.
In Nagaland assembly, the unanimous resolution was piloted by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Z Lohe and the state chief minister was the illustrious S C Jamir.
"Are they (Nagas) really opposed to the Bill ... what are Naga women doing?," remarked Geeta Mukherjee.
I did not answer anything specific as by 1998-99; even Naga women were not so assertive or determined to push for the law giving them quota. In fact, Nagaland got its first woman legislator elected to the state assembly only in 2023.
Credit for this has to go the BJP more (especially the high command) though both women legislators elected in 2023 were NDPP nominees. One of them Salhoutuonuo Kruse is now Minister for Women Resource Development and Horticulture.
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| First Naga woman Minister Salhoutuonuo Kruse |
In 1998-99, while answering my question, Geeta Di had said - "I am serious about this Bill and my women colleagues from different parts of India and all parties practically was determined to see the Bill reach its logical conclusion".
Of course in 2026 -- as things stand today -- the Modi government under Narendra Modi is showing that determination and probably by April 18th, the Bill will be passed.
Geeta Mukherjee was unhappy because consensus never seemed 'reachable' on the subject with parties such as the Samajwadi Party and the RJD were strongly opposed to it.
The Janata Dal leader Sharad Yadav too backed those who opposed the Bill and had made his famous remark that such a law would only help "par-kati Mahilaen (women with hair cut or whose wings cannot be slipped)".
But Geeta Mukherjee and others including the likes of Mamata Banerjee (in Congress till 1997) and Sushma Swaraj (BJP) and also the likes of Najma Heptullah and Margaret Alva of Congress were banking on the Left, Congress and BJP to build a majority.
But Mukherjee said it was quite disappointing as these parties also backtracked "using the lack of consensus" as a palatable excuse.
In 1997 when I K Gujral took over succeeding H D Deve Gowda, Geeta Mukherjee was offered a ministerial berth. But she declined.
In 1997 yet again during the Monsoon Session of Parliament, Geeta Di said in Parliament, “Sir, I would like to inform the House that the hon. Speaker had given us a word of honour that on the 29th July 1997, the `Women’s Reservation Bill’ would be there in the List of Business.”
On 14 August, 1997, the last day of the Monsoon Session, she had an opportunity to occupy the Chair, being on the panel of presiding officers.
All of a sudden, and practically as soon as she had occupied the chair, Geeta Di declared that the Women’s Reservation Bill would be taken up for discussion.
Some 'male members' were unhappy apparently.
Technically, a smart move was already done by those who wanted no debate on it. The Women quota Bill had been placed as 'item number 24' in the List, meaning that it would not be taken up at all on that day.
She was also reminded by Ram Naik (BJP) that proceedings of the House would have to be conducted according to rules.
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| Those were the days: Nitish Kumar, Sharad Yadav and Lalu Prasad |
The Nitish Kumar angle
After Geeta Mukherjee it was Nitish Kumar’s turn to be on the Chair. Now, as a member Geeta Mukherjee demanded discussion on the Women’s Bill.
Nitish Kumar could only assure her that an opportunity would be given to her after business under Rule 377 was over.
But after that it was time for the Private Members’ Bills and generally a text book man, Nitish Kumar said he could not do anything.
This had left Geeta Mukherjee annoyed and she quickly appealed to women members irrespective of party affiliation to stage a walkout in protest.
She first walked out of the House with five other Left and Congress women MPs.
Incidentally, Sushma Swaraj of BJP chose not to join them but slipped out later almost quietly.
There was another interesting facet as 'bhadralok' neta; Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, then MP from Howrah also left the House in support of his women colleagues.
On one occasion speaking to journalists after facing 'defeat' in Parliament, Geeta Di was almost in moist eyes and had said,
“Even when my husband died, I was brave. But today, I’ve been reduced to tears.”
She had married Biswanath Mukherjee, a legendary communist leader, way back in 1942. In fact, she was physically weak herself after a heart surgery in the 1980s.
In one of the parliamentary reports the Geeta Mukherjee-led panel in Report of the Joint Select Committee of Parliament, expressed strong objections to sub-reservation or quota within 33% quota,
The refrain was there was no precedent or move for (general) OBC reservation in Legislative bodies or Panchayats and that the problem could be easily solved without reservation if OBC women could be put up in OBC-dominated constituencies by all political parties. (Geeta Mukherjee-led Joint Select Committee Report, 1997).
Tail piece
During the stint of Atal Bihari Vajpayee as the Prime Minister; there was a mini fiasco as even after the PM had assured the Women Reservation Bill was not introduced. Geeta Mukherjee and a few others had then compared Vajpayee with I K Gujral -- both the leaders were described as 'good leaders' in 'bad parties'.
Earlier around 1997, the bill could not be piloted when I K Gujral was the Prime Minister.
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| I K Gujral, Vajpayee, George Fernandes and L K Advani |
ends
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