What It Takes To Be A Madam Speaker?

The Congress led UPA has done it again!

After India's first female President, it gifted the world's largest democracy with its first female Lok Sabha speaker and that too with a 'Dalit' tag attached to it. It's no surprise that Congress's bid to create history has drawn flak from different corners of the society. Many are labelling this as a ploy to counter Mayawati. Though for obvious reasons the Congress think tank is not ready to buy the argument and is all set to defend their decision, the appointment is bound to raise a few questions.

Firstly, the word 'Dalit' is often referred in India to denote an oppressed class of the society. Even if Congress's contention of Dalit empowerment is accepted, why not appointing somebody who is not from the upper echelon of the society? Ms. Meira Kumar's background (The daughter of the late Babu Jagjivan Ram decided to enter politics in the 1980s after a successful stint with the Indian Foreign Service and has been elected to the Lok Sabha five times since then) comes nowhere near a really oppressed Dalit.

Secondly, Ms. Kumar appears to be a naive, soft-spoken lady. I am not averse to appointing women to the top constitutional posts if it is based purely on meritocracy. My only fear is given the abusive nature of the representatives of the Indian parliament, will she be a proper replacement for Mr. Somnath 'Headmaster' Chatterjee?

Only time will tell.

Meanwhile, an informative read on the former speakers of Indian parliament.