INDIA’S PARLIAMENT yesterday elected its first woman speaker, who is also a member of the formerly untouchable, low-caste Dalit community.
Meira Kumar (64) was elected unopposed by a voice vote in India’s 543-member lower house of parliament, following her Congress Party’s impressive win in the recent general elections.
“In electing you, we members of parliament pay tribute to the women of our country and the great contribution they have made,” prime minister Manmohan Singh declared.
Ms Kumar, a former diplomat, five-term MP and daughter of a prominent Dalit leader who was India’s deputy prime minister in the late 1970s, described her nomination as an “historic moment” for the country and an “overwhelming moment” personally.
Analysts said making Ms Kumar the speaker was advantageous for the Congress Party, projecting it as favouring women and Dalits, the two relatively unempowered sections that comprise the bulk of India’s voting population of over 714 million.
The newly elected parliament has 59 female MPs, more than any previous house, and political observers believe Ms Kumar’s elevation to speaker would provide a fillip to the longstanding, albeit unfulfilled demand of reserving one-third of all parliamentary seats for women.
It also projects Congress as a party concerned about the welfare of over 160 million Dalits who for centuries have faced discrimination from upper-caste Hindus.
Shunned by higher castes, India’s Dalits remain the country’s underprivileged community socially, economically and politically.
An inordinately large number of Dalits generally pursue the lowliest occupations like scavenging rubbish dumps and cleaning toilets.
They remain victims of predominantly Hindu India’s rigid caste system, an ancient hereditary class order that divides society into four general categories with hundreds of complex sub-divisions.