Opinion: Rani Padmini and Indira Gandhi were India’s daughters too. BBC, don’t you see this?

With the backstage of BB documentary in news, I was looking into history to see if the situations were similar.

Flash back to 13^th century into the life of Rani Padmini, the queen of Chittor. Her legendary beauty brought her misfortunes. When Alauddin Khilji destroyed her kingdom with only intention of calming down his lust, what he could get was ashes and burnt bones as the queen walked into jauhar (divine suicide by walking into fire). Suicide and getting killed are different means to same end. But it was not just one life. The whole kingdom was perished before they let their queen die. Please note woman was not just an object of desire but was a symbol of pride too. [A similar incident of one woman’s beauty sparking a battle happened in 14^th century in south India. See 'The Goldsmith’s Daughter'. Link: http://cristoraul.com/ENGLISH/readinghall/UniversalHistory/INDIA/Cambridge/III/15/6-Goldsmiths-Daughter.html]

But for those who think all of Indian women are underprivileged, I would like to remind of Indira Gandhi. When she was born, her grandfather Motilal Nehru had said ‘she will be better than a hundred sons’. She could outsmart that expectation. Did you say, she was not a common person but was daughter of a Prime Minister? Then, what do you say about Didi (Mamata Bannerjee), Amma (Jayalalitha) and Behen ji (Mayawati)? If you want to look beyond politics, how about Kiran Bedi? Come to the world of business, you cannot afford to miss Chanda Kochhar or Kiran Majumdar Shaw. Many Bollywood beauties have busier schedules than their male counterparts. How could they find success in male dominated society? They were/are all India’s daughters too. Go to the poorest village and visit a family at random. You will most likely see a woman running that family and earning at par with her husband but contributing more to family than her husband. Ask her children, you will know who is a reliable parent. It is the individual's ability and not the gender which decided things for them. Check with an old father who does hand holding for him, his son or daughter? You would not need further evidence from here. When they could command respect, why say India’s daughters are underprivileged?

If you still think India's daughter is at disadvantage, one need to understand that perhaps it is not just limited to India or this time. It is a gradually disappearing social ill.

BBC, why don’t you see this?