DLOs speech

The government’s stand in this debate is this:

1) Polygamy helps society economically

2) Polygamy will stop infidelity, aids and abusive relationships,

3) Polygamy has good effects it has on children.

4) Evolution of social and cultural traditions demands a change in laws that govern them;

5) Polygamy: nature’s way

6) Fundamental right to choice

Let me 1st begin by rebutting all the pts made by the prop...

The pm in his speech talked about how ‘polygamy will have a positive effect on the economy.’ In this he talked about the very idealistic case of rich man having many wives and poor men all marrying one wife. Let me remind the pm that India continues to be a socially backward country with low literacy rates. India continues to be a very patriarchal male dominated society. Thus the chances of 1 man marrying many women far outweigh that of 1 woman marrying many men. Imagine a not so hunky dory case in which one poor man would marry many say 5 wives. We would have him producing 20 kids instead of 4 clearly not the most idealistic situation for India. A better way to control population would be education....



About AIDS and infidelity, imagine 1 man marrying many wives... what stops the woman from being infidel.... doesn’t she want sexual variety....... Also there is no reason for Indian adults to get themselves tested for AIDS before marriage if u legalize polygamy

They are not getting themselves tested once today in the prevalent system what makes u believe Mr. prime minister that they will get themselves tested multiple times??

Since our PM loves to take examples from Hindu mythology (folk tales let me remind you) to back his points let me take one too. In the Ramayana Kaikeyi asks for her step son too be sent to vanvasa for 14 years... Was that a good effect on children of dashratha because of polygamy?



It is clear that polygamy will only lead to jealousy amongst the multiple spouses..... It will lead to many family fights over property...

. It will lead to promotion of one’s own child over the other...

Further in a society like ours a wife who bears a son would be treated much better than a wife who bears a daughter.





Moving on I hope our DPM had seen a little more of India or study our demographics a little better... While it is true that in India the number of working women is increasing in the cities it is also true that the same is not happening in our villages... The women in our villages continue to be oppressed and uneducated ... might I remind our dpm that women in our villages (which is the vast majority of total women in India) simply do not have the courage to express their sexual needs. A better solution to this problem I would say is education and I would request this house to not waste time on this proposal and to concentrate on India’s real needs and demands.



Further the dpm in his speech also mentioned that polygamy can remove Forced arranged marriages, dowry crimes, domestic violence... On the contrary I believe that polygamy will result in an increase in dowry crimes.... simply a man would become greedy and marry more times instead of once. Thus he would get dowry multiple times.

It would also increase arrange marriages for the same above mentioned reason... Again I would like to remind our dpm to look that the vast majority of our population which is uneducated, extremely poor and lives in rural areas....

Please look outside our cities Mr. Deputy Prime Minister.



Unfortunately the government in their proposal thinks that polygamy will be good for the country because “all rational people will take advantage of polygamy and exercise their right to choice in such a way which benefits them and the country...”



I wish this were true for all laws that we implement... Just check if the law makes sense to rational people and pass it….

It again brings us to the bare facts of our country… India does not have the education levels required for this law too be used responsibly…. We need to 1st make our people understand how rising population… large families are detrimental to society in general and to them in particular… Oh by the way if polygamy were legalized then according to our PM Lalu Prasad Yadav should marry multiple times(because he’s rich)……. He has 9 right now how many do you think he’ll have then sir??



Moving on to my constructive….



Problems of a polygamous society are many. In India they will include the need to restrict women's rights to force their participation. It will lead to excess men who cannot find wives and hence younger girls will be used.


Further men with many children will not possibly find time to spend with each of them.
Women in India will never get to design and choose polygamous life styles. In India, rural women have no choice but to either starve or marry (majority of them). Very few women choose to be the sixth wife of an old man if given any other opportunities.

If polygamy were legalized lawyers would have a field day. The legal issues include health insurance for partners, inheritance, divorce, custody, welfare. There are dozens more. Marriage of two people is so deeply ingrained in all our laws, the changes would be endless.

Let me conclude…

I have showed how the government’s points are absolutely non-sensical and pointless... I have also told you that in a society like India polygamy will result in various legal issues, and would further restrict the rights of women…

Thus for all these reasons I am very, very proud to oppose