No Power on Earth Can Stop an Idea Whose Time Has Come

I do not minimise the difficulties that lie ahead on the long and arduous journey on which we have embarked. But as Victor Hugo once said, "no power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come". I suggest to this august House that the emergence of India as a major economic power in the world happens to be one such idea. Let the whole world hear it loud and clear. India is now wide awake. We shall prevail. We shall overcome.

— Manmohan Singh, Budget Speech 1991

It seems to me that perhaps there is another idea whose time has finally come for our society: genuine respect for the autonomy of women. If only our Prime Minister were still capable of seizing the moment in the fashion he did all those years ago...