Vote bank politics: 10 years gone, Cong gets time to hear women now?

Bhopal, Jan 20: We really can't remember when was the last time an all women's delegations was held by the

, or for that matter any political party in India. While there were Yuva meets and meets for the general public, women's issues has always taken a backseat in the minds and psyche of politics.

While rapes, domestic violence and sexual assault of natural and unnatural ways continue to take place in their usual pace, or should we say increase with time, the Centre is finally willing to hear the woes of this community, after 10 years.

If this is not vote bank politics then what is? 10 years wasted with just assuarances and promises, the Congress now wakes up as the Lok Sabha elections approach and their is a looming threat of being ousted.

Rahul Gandhi's visit to the women's delegation in Bhopal may have been a great gesture had this meeting in the name of "framing" the party manifesto been held earlier sometime within the last 10 years of the Centre.

Rahulji, you say that "attitude toward women should change", what has been your attitude toward the them all these years?

In a 2000 survey conducted in various households, it was found that 50% of the women faced some or the other sort of domestic violence throughout their married life. In rural areas and urban slums, the rate of domestic violence was close to 55%. Urban non-slum areas, however, reported a violence rate of 40%.

An interesting survey by Unicef's Global Report Card on Adolescents 2012, 53% of girls and 57% of boys in India think a husband is justified in hitting or beating his wife.

According to a website, womenempowermentinindia.com, rape cases have increased drastically from 19,348 in 2006 to 24,923 in 2012; dowry deaths have increased from 7618 to 8,233; kidnapping and abduction have increased from 17,414 to 38,262 in 2012. Cases of molestation have reached the limit from 36,616 in 2006 to 45,351 n 2012.

Such high indices within a span of 6 years is more than enough to prove the government's flawed 'vision' and 'mission' for women in the past 10 years. And perhaps, it is too late and too predictable for it to give them a fresh start.