Politics · India Bureau
Kerala minister condemns directive limiting women's public participation
A Kerala cabinet minister has strongly criticised a directive that seeks to restrict women's attendance at public gatherings, arguing such measures contradict constitutional guarantees of gender equality. The minister warned that such restrictions risk rolling back decades of social progress.
LSN India ·
Kerala's Women and Child Development Minister Bindu Krishna has launched a scathing attack on a directive aimed at limiting women's participation in public events, calling it regressive and incompatible with India's constitutional framework.
Krishna rejected the directive as fundamentally at odds with the principle of equal rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution. She argued that such restrictions would effectively push women "centuries back" and undermine the progress achieved through years of social advancement and legal reforms.
The minister emphasised that in a democratic society that guarantees equal fundamental rights to all citizens regardless of gender, directives that selectively curtail women's access to public spaces cannot be tolerated. She stressed the importance of maintaining the gains made in women's participation and empowerment across all sectors of society.
The controversy highlights ongoing tensions between traditional prescriptions and modern constitutional values in parts of India, with the minister's intervention underlining the government's commitment to upholding gender equality and women's rights in the state.