The BJP government hasn't covered itself with honour and the state cabinet might have to shoulder some of the blame for letting politics to triumph over social justice. The matter in question is Ward 11 (Pajifond) in Margao which has become the fiefdom of Raju Naik. For the last 25 years this ward and Ward 1 escaped reservation for women which is routinely done on rotation. This time round, Ward 1 was reserved for women while Ward 11 escaped. The idea behind reservation of wards for women is to provide the fairer sex with a sure-shot way of getting elected into the council. The guiding principle here is to ensure that more women enter public life at the grass-root level and move up the ladder to eventually become MLAs and MPs. But it would seem that in the case of Pajifond the men got together to perpetuate the hold of one person in the ward. Of course Raju Naik has to still win the election, but the dice is already loaded in his favour. Those against reservation for women often argue that councillors or panchas put up their wives as candidates in order to maintain a stranglehold and this is counter productive. No system is perfect, but in the case of Pajifond an imperfect principle has been perpetuated in violation of every tenet of equal opportunity.
