Nari Shakti: A convoluted stratagem to preserve male dominance

Did they believe that one made it easier to facilitate the other? There was no logical connect between the two. But there is a reason, which neither the BJP leaders or their allies nor the Opposition are ready to acknowledge.

Politics: Arena for men

The reason is that Modi-Shah did not want to disturb the status quo. They feared rebellion if the principle of one-third reservation for women were to be implemented. Parties would have to reserve about 170 of the existing 543 seats for women.

It seems that the best way to implement the reservation was to add the one-third seats meant for women through delimitation and expansion. It seems a doubtful proposition that men were going to let go of their seats to accommodate women, neither in north India nor in the south.

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The unseating of men is not an easy socio-political exercise. The expansion of seats was the only way to buy peace from the men. Politics remains the arena for men, and there is space for women only as a mark of courtesy. The few women who are in the political arena are there either because they are political heavyweights in their own right, or they are there as a token acknowledgement of gender equality.

The expansion of seats was the only way to buy peace from the men. Politics remains the arena for men, and there is space for women only as a mark of courtesy.

The stratagem to get in women without shaking the male ego and sense of dominance through the 131st Constitution (Amendment) Bill has fallen. More than two years after the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Women's Reservation Bill) was passed in the two Houses of Parliament, the government notified it on April 16, to make it implementable forthwith.

Baptism by fire

The Election Commission would have to mark out 170-plus constituencies for the 2029 Lok Sabha election. The drawing up of women-only constituencies would require a lot of bureaucratic work. There was also the issue of rotation. No constituency could be in the women-only category forever.

The law has to be implemented sometime because Parliament has passed it. But a lot of feathers will be ruffled on the way, and men who would have contested in those constituencies where now only women can, need to be cajoled and rewarded in more ways than one.

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Even one-third reservation for women is a compromise because they constitute half of the population or nearly so. There will initially be some kind of commotion. There will be unease and unrest across society because the idea of equality has not really sunk into the consciousness of the people. It will not be an easy transition for women either.

Politics creates its own social and psychological dynamics across the spectrum of parties, regions and communities. It will be baptism by fire, as it were, with the social change that has to be gone through.

Inevitable hurdles

It might seem that men are now used to the idea of women’s reservation in the panchayats and municipal corporations. But the big things are almost always left to men. Very rarely are women chosen as heads. It has not happened even in the century-and-a-quarter-old Indian National Congress. Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi became presidents for special reasons, though they proved their exceptional ability once they were in control of the party.

Modi is driven by the burning desire to leave behind something monumental apart from the puzzling new Parliament House. His desire to leave a memorable political legacy is incontrovertible.

The exceptions are Jayalalithaa, Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee, who have led the All India Anna DMK, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and the All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC), respectively. Women in the BJP stop at the vice-president rank. Sushma Swaraj or Uma Bharati could never become president of the BJP. The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) did not dare to be gender-benders. Socialists had some brilliant women in their ranks, but they remained in the ranks.

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The reservation slot makes it impossible for women to become what they can. The party bosses, who will largely be men, will choose one-third of the candidates who will be women. And like all candidates, men or women, they will be beholden to the party high command. But these are inevitable hurdles which have to be crossed for a more egalitarian future.

Modi’s motivation

India is not a basket case. The picture of women in politics remains the same across the world. Scandinavian countries are indeed an exception. Britain, Australia and New Zealand have had women prime ministers who rose from the ranks and took over the reins of their respective political parties before they became prime ministers. Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh are not good examples of the rise of women power despite the many women prime ministers in this part of the world.

Whatever his ideological baggage, Modi is driven by the burning desire to leave behind something monumental apart from the puzzling new Parliament House. His desire to leave a memorable political legacy is incontrovertible. The plan to push women’s reservation is part of this legacy plan. Whatever the motive, women and the country would be forced to acknowledge Modi’s part in it.

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At the same time, Modi is compelled to take care of the men in the political arena. They are the foot-soldiers. Like the men in Hindutva ranks, the women too are committed to the right-wing belief system. The liberal’s myth that the women will bring the healing touch may have to be laid to rest. Modi wants to nurture the women contingents of right]-wing nationalism. It is a rational plan in Modi’s ideological context.

There will be ideological diversity among the women politicians and leaders. It is unlikely that women across party divisions will unite as women. It is natural that they will be divided across party, ideological, regional and even communal lines. Rather than the apparent war of the sexes, we will be witnessing the old battles between new players.

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