Thanks to the Mamata Banerjee Government new watering hole laws, now the women in Bengal will go miles in proving that they are no less than men inside the pubs. This, but for a few eyebrows being raised.

The Bengal Government’s new legislation allowing women to work in hostelry has evoked mixed response in the civil society and political circles. While those in the Trinamool Congress have said that this would go miles in ensuring “emancipation for women in the State” others including the Opposition parties said it would bring more miseries to them and had been done to attract more customers including the TMC goons.

The Government had on Wednesday proposed a new Bill lifting a century old ban on women working in bars. The British had through Bengal Excise Act in 1909 imposed a ban on women working in bars. However, Bengal Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, while presenting the West Bengal Finance Bill 2025 before the legislative assembly on Wednesday, said, “women couldn’t work at on-shops until now. They will get this opportunity. We all talk about gender equality. That’s what we kept in mind while taking this decision.”

The Bill is now pending with Governor CV Ananda Bose for his assent.

While the Bill was passed without any resistance from the Opposition which had walked out of the Assembly on issues including refusal by, Speaker to allow debates on attacks on the Hindu religious places the Left opposition which

has no representation in the House attacked both the TMC and the BJP for letting the women to be exposed before “night vultures.”

Senior CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakrabarty reminded how Bengal was topping the list of victimisation of women. “You cannot stop rapes and attacks on women … you have no adequate security for them particularly in the nights … your government victimises doctors who protested against the rape and murder of the lady doctor inside the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital… and now you are exposing them to further danger without even arranging for their security… the TMC government talked of taking steps to ensure safety of women at work place… Now it has walked in the opposite direction.”

BJP’s Shankar Ghosh on the other hand wondered whether the new law would be accompanied by additional police security for women during the nights. “It is an open fact that bars are mostly functional during the nights and the women who will work in the bar will not only be exposed to the hazards of the job inside the bar also their return home will be a problem … has the Government arranged for their protection … has the Government thought about enhancing their security.”

Women social activist Saswati Ghosh falsified the claims made by the Finance Minister that the Bill had been brought as a gender equality measure. “Those talks of gender equality are only an eyewash this Bill has been brought to increase revenue of the Government … everyone knows that there is minimum industrial investment in Bengal as a result of which the Government’s revenue has declined … the only big money that the Government earns is through the thousands of liquor shops that has come up in the past one decade or so … no other thing … only money was on the mind of the Government,” she said happing “they do not expose women bar tenders to attract more and more customers.”

Another social activist and a poet who is also a professor in a college said requesting anonymity, “these are very cunning and unscrupulous rulers … the Opposition is no better … the Government should have better tried to bring investment … if at all they had gender inequality in mind then could have prevented that in other sectors, especially unorganised industries… the BJP on the other hand instead of communalising the atmosphere would have taken up this Bill as a women’s cause … but they chose to walk out and give a free passage to the Government … even the Left should have raised the issue on streets … they have bright faces like Meenakshi Mukherjee, Dipsita Dhar and Aishe Ghosh but they too would not.”

However a TMC leader who reportedly owns a bar cum restaurant hailed the decision saying, “women in bar would help the women guests … in any case the Government should not allow women workers in the national highways.”