New Delhi, January 24
Stressing on changing the mindset of people on issues like female foeticide and education, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today appealed to all political parties to join hands with the government in giving reservation to women in Parliament.

“We support the demand for 33 per cent reservation for women but we do not have enough numbers to change or enact the law in this regard. Efforts were on for a consensus on the issue. We appeal to other political parties to join hands with us to ensure that women’s representation goes up”, Mr Vajpayee said.

He was addressing members of the BJP Mahila Morcha who had gone to felicitate him for enacting several far reaching legislations supportive of women.

Condemning discrimination based on gender, he said the rights of Indian women were encroached upon under the guise of protecting them during alien invasion and rules.

Mr Vajpayee regretted that female foeticide was rampant even in highly progressive states. According to statistics available in the last 10 years, he said as many as 14 lakh cases of female foeticide were registered and gender ratio vis-a-vis women was less in states like Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat.

“This is not a good thing and there is a need to change the mindset, which is possible only through education”, he said.

Using the popular television serial “Saas bhi kabhi Bahu thi” to stress a point , the Prime Minister reminded daughters-in-law in his unusual humour that, they too would become mothers-in-law one day and advised them to take care of the elderly in the family.

“One sees a different face of a woman as a daughter-in-law and another as a mother-in-law. The mothers-in-law were daughters-in-law once and should take care of their “bahus”. Similarly, the daughters-in-law should remember they would become “saas” one day and hence change their attitude”, Mr Vajpayee said.

Regretting the tendency of the elderly being ignored during the sunset of their lives, he called for a change in attitude towards them.

The Prime Minister said it would be far better to prevent pregnancies rather than going in for killing the foetus. Education for women was crucial as they took care of the whole family. Mr Vajpayee said the government had decided to change the law pertaining to evidence in rape cases as the victims were often humiliated during cross examination in courts which prevented them from approaching the law enforcement authorities.

He said while the government had enabled viewers to select the television channels of their choice, it was for the parents to ensure that children do not watch programmes not suited to them.