Kaveree Bamzai Kaveree Bamzai

Narendra Modi has for long been accused of being out of step on gender issues. During the campaign for prime minister, his focus was on mataon and behnon, and their concerns on price rise. Since becoming prime minister, he has been largely silent on the succession of horrific rapes in the country. When he has talked of women's issues, he has seemed ill at ease and out of step. Then there is always the shadow of Jashodaben, Congress'ultimate weapon of mass distraction.

In his first Independence Day, he made up for it in leaps and bounds, by virtually declaring himself to be the First Feminist Prime Minister. Why do you put "'bandhan"' (restrictions) on your girls, he asked parents from the ramparts of the Red Fort today. Do you not ask what your boys are doing? Who they are meeting? What they are doing?

It is an echo of the slogans paraded by young men during the remarkable agitation against the December 16, 2012, rape: Don't tell us what to wear, the placards said. Teach your sons how to behave.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: Praveen Negi Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photo: Praveen Negi

Indeed, this is what feminists have been demanding for the longest time. Boys need to be socialised to accept women as equals, at home and in the workplace. The RSS traditionally has seen women only as the custodians of traditional values, as the keepers of family honour, and as the repository of family values.

As prime minister, Modi has showns he doesn't care for such distinctions. There are seven women in his Cabinet and of them only one, Maneka Gandhi, can be cosidered to have been given a traditional "'women's"' portfolio. Smriti Irani runs Human Resource Development Ministry, Nirmala Sitharaman runs Corporate Affairs, Najma Heptullah is in charge of Minority Affairs, Uma Bharti has got the vast and vastly important Ganga programme. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, a sharp and quick politician, runs Food Processing Industries and has hit the ground running while the most important of them all, Sushma Swaraj, is emerging as a Hillary Clinton to his Barack Obama, working seamlessly to clear the way for prime ministerial visits.

She has kept her ego aside, as has the prime minister, for the good of the government. If they continue, they can make an unbeatable team.

For Modi, clearly capability is gender neutral. His chosen successor in Gujarat in Anandiben Patel and the Speaker of the Lok Sabha is the very efficient Sumitra Mahajan.

It's a good thing for Indian politics, especially since we have the highest number of women in this Lok Sabha.

For all mothers, clearly today was a welcome day. Mothers of girls are tired of hearing platitudes fom politicians about safety and security. Mothers of boys know exactly what the challenges are to raise young men with good values in an enviroment where they are bombarded with sexist images, from movies with ruffian heroes to ads with commodified women.

They will be empowered today--that someone recognises their problems. Our culture has venerated boys for far too long and failed to prepare them for a modern modern world. It's time to equip them for the real world where women are as smart and perhaps more hard working than they are.