Will Women’s Reservation Bill help BJP in polls?

If we look at the political maneuverings of the prime minister and his people, it only reveals their failure. They grossly miscalculated the political fallout of passing the Women’s Reservation Bill. The calculation is completely wrong that the INDIA alliance would get divided on the issue and the Congress would be isolated

One more attempt at salvaging the failing brand of Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to have failed. The passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill in parliament is unlikely to benefit the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. In his attempt to snatch the credit for himself alone, he not only played with democratic and parliamentary norms but also harmed the cause of empowering women. The exercise has revealed the crisis within the ruling BJP and Modi’s losing faith in his cabinet and party colleagues.

Let us first examine the empowerment issue. The name of the bill has been coined in an archaic language and the introduction has been written in obsolete phrases. The language hardly reflects the aspirations of Indian women and does not assure a path to modernity. The Bill does not proclaim equality and an end to exploitation. Heavily burdened with the ideological baggage of Hindutva, the Bill fails to instill any confidence. The title of the bill ‘Nari Shakti Vandan’ is nothing but an adherence to a metaphor of patriarchy that makes the core of Hindutva. It tacitly endorses caste and gender discrimination.

The discourse of the emancipation of women in India started with the denial of veneration of women as goddesses. The Indian Renaissance has its roots in this denial. The most revolutionary denial was the abolition of Sati Pratha (immolation of a widow at the pyre of her dead husband). And, the next was allowing the women to remarry. No one should forget all these atrocities were being done in the name of adoration of women and by exalting them to the status of a goddess.

The language denies the struggle of women at the national and global level to gain independence from the yoke of patriarchy. It also does not underline the contribution of the Congress-led freedom movement in emancipating women of India. None of the speakers from the ruling party could reflect on the nuances of the exercise of giving political power to women. They all were trying to highlight how the leadership of Narendra Modi had done his best to empower women and the present bill was a step towards the same. The Prime Minister did the same.

“With the passage of the Nari Shakti VandanAdhiniyam in Parliament, we usher in an era of stronger representation and empowerment for the women of India. This is not merely legislation; it is a tribute to the countless women who have made our nation. India has been enriched by their resilience and contributions. As we celebrate today, we are reminded of the strength, courage, and indomitable spirit of all the women of our nation. This historic step is a commitment to ensuring their voices are heard even more effectively,” he said. His words- “tribute”, strength, courage and spirit-display the deceitful slogans of conservatives and fundamentalists.

However, the question remains whether he could achieve his purpose of salvaging his fast-deteriorating brand image. If we ignore the shouts from the puppet media and drumbeaters in social media, the picture becomes clear. If we adopt the methods of dispassionate analysis of the entire exercise many loopholes become evident. They reveal the basic flaw in the political strategy of protecting the prime minister from his declining image. To save his brand, he abandoned all the democratic and parliamentary norms. The secrecy with which the special session of parliament was called in was unwarranted. The agenda was not discussed with the opposition. People were kept waiting for the government to reveal it. It was unbecoming of a democracy that the people knew nothing of what the Lok Sabha was going to discuss.

The Prime Minister did not even oblige his favorite media. It appears that his ministers were also not aware of the agenda. The puppet media admires how the Women’s Reservation Bill was placed before Parliament. They are ignoring that the prime minister deprived his party members by keeping the exercise a secret. He lost the opportunity to involve his party members in a political campaign on the issue of the empowerment of women. It will harm him in the elections. He has done it in an obvious attempt to snatch away the entire credit of passing a historic bill. Has he succeeded in his attempt? The answer is a clear no.

If we look at the political maneuverings of the prime minister and his people, it only reveals their failure. They grossly miscalculated the political fallout of passing the Women’s Reservation Bill. The calculation is completely wrong that the INDIA alliance would get divided on the issue and the Congress would be isolated. They failed to understand the political evolution the Congress has undergone in the last two years. The party has learned from its decline in the northern states and aligned with the ideology of social justice. In its Raipur session, the AICC declared its alignment with the ideology of social justice. The BJP grossly failed to assess the political move on the Women’s Reservation Bill. The Congress set the tone on the issue that the OBC women should get a quota within the quota for women in the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies. The stand maintained the unity of the Indian alliance. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge led his party quite efficiently and properly confronted the ruling party.

In contrast, the BJP could not manage the outcome. Instead, it created suspicion among them whether wanted to give them any reservation shortly. The condition that the quota would be operational after the delimitation process was over did not go well with them. The process would start in 2026 and would take three or more years. According to Prof. Yogendra Yadav, the quota could not be operational even in the 2029 elections.

Will these developments help salvage the failing brand?

(The author is a senior journalist. He has experience of working with leading newspapers and electronic media including Deccan Herald, Sunday Guardian, Navbharat Times and Dainik Bhaskar. He writes on politics, society, environment and economy)