The bahans,didis and ammas of Indian politics

The bahans,didis and ammas
of Indian politics........

PROLOGUE
During the run up to 2009 American presidential elections, Sara pahlin was in the news not just for her candidature. She was spilling ink for her hourglass curves, haute couture and a pregnant teen daughter.The Burlusconi government in Italy turns glamorous with former models assuming ministerial offices.Sarkozy has gifted the French a former nude model and a pope diva as their first lady.

Well,Im not proposing such a change out here,but somehow cant help appreciate the equation of the sexes there.And for sure, such a brand of politics would never work in a country like ours! The stereotypical brand of feminine politics set in our country puts our woman politicians totally out of sync with the aspirations of the new age Indian women.Politics too endorses the great Indian concept of womanhood where as said often, the individuality of the woman is never recognised.
The women politics in our country is all centred about three leaders in three poles of the country,Jayalalitha in the south,Mayawati in the north and Mamata banerjee in the east and they serve as excellent case studies of feminine politics here. All three spinsters strike a chord of similarity in their rise and falls, politics - its equations and inequations.

If you see the popular names by which our woman netas are addressed, the undertones that lie beneath them limits their identity in relation to a male.The Dalit protagonist in Mayawati is 'bahanji' , the Dravidian pride,Jayalalitha is 'amma' to the masses and the Nano butcher,Mamata banerjee is 'didi' to Bengalis.You can virtually catch any female relation in Indian politics except say a girlfriend or beyond! Often they played second fiddles to male patriarchs in their respective parties and so naturally filled its feminine lingos.The 'sisterhood and motherhood' offered by our netas seem to be the easiest way to connect to masses especially in a country where family relations stay herculean strong.

A record number of 59 women have made it to the parliament in the 2009 elections constituting almost 10% of the total strength.Out of that a whooping 36 are wives, daughters, nieces or even in-laws of our already established netas.The surname politics and dynasty rule has taken out its dirtiest leaves raping Indias political consciousness.This post 1990 syndrome reach its all time nadir with coronation of Rabri devi,a politically virgin illiterate housewife as the CM of Bihar by her husband Lalu prasad deseated on corruption charges.Male heirs have often fallen out with their patriarchs in the dirty game of politics leaving our netas to expect lesser resistance from the fair sex.What goes on without being said is that these women end up being political pawns and rubber stamps with the least chance to act on their conscience.Well, all bad things too can start at home.


One peculiar thing to note is the absence of proper intra party democracy or even a second string leadership in our women lead parties.How many of us can quote another leader from Mamata's Trinamool congress,Mayawati's BSP or even Jayalaitha's AIADMK?.Mamata shied away from demanding more ministerial berths at Delhi for her MP's obviously falling for the fear of a second power centre in the party .We see MLA's falling at ammas feet even before the press and being expelled from the party at her whims and fancies.The biggest example is reserved for the self proclaimed dalit saviour in Mayawati whose dictatorial clout is beginning to choke her own party quarters. Immediately after Indira gandhi's death in 1984,congress cadres felt an overwhelming absence of proper leadership,the reason of which too is no different.

No wonder, some of Indias most dictatorial governments have been lead by women.The grand old lady of politics,Indira gandhi still hauls the ghosts of her tyrannical regime which sponsored the only emergency period in the history of the country.But then,she has left a legacy even Nehru would not match and she continues to be the best PM we ever had who led the country to progress like never before on socio-capitalistic line.The last Jayalalitha government in Tamil Nadu was running the risk of setting records so much that it is now two terms out of power.Mayawati is now a national shame installing her own statues all over Lucknow in a disgustful attempt of self immortalisation and exhorbiting large amounts to her party fund through the beaurocracy.May be its de natural reaction of a sex so unsure of assuming power deprived to majority of their peers.

If issues created leaders then,the politics of today seems to believe in creating issues or else watering those of a miniscule nature.Dalit patronism, the USP of BSP is now in front of the mirror for an ambitious pan Indian implementation. Mamata banerjee is riding on the wave of her new found success against the communists,all thanks to her Singur anti Tata nano struggle .The Dravidian cause put forward by Jayalalitha has failed the test of times.Like half the men folk,they also play 'issue' based politics rather a 'cause and reason' based one.What difference should jantha expect of women leaders rather than playing sisters and moms to them?

Most of these women have grown in stature under the patronage of their mentors.Mayawati grew under the patronage of Kanshi ram (whom she later placed under house arrest).Jayalalitha was the baby girl of MGR, a legendary Tamil politician.The intra party politics in our country is still unconductive to rising women participation other than to fill up their woman wings.And whoever fights the system is shown the way out,Uma bharathi and BJP testifying the above fact.
Coming to my home state ,Kerala which boasts as India's most woman empowered state,the recent parliament election was the last nail on coffin of women politics.Congress offered Shanimol usman, the Mahila congress president at a sure to lose seat at Kasargode which she bravely refused.Sindhu joy, a promising left wing student leader contested in a similar situation at Ernakulam where at the end, she lost by 10000 votes which was as good as a battle won.This is quite understandable of a party which expelled Gowry amma in 1994, one of the finest woman politicians India has seen for reasons still undefined.How can one forget Kerala being deprived of its first woman CM in Susheela gopalan after the 1996 assembly elections.Such instances will continue to occur as long as our male chauvinistic culture is all lit up against any subjugation to the opposite sex.

The proposed 33% reservation for women in the parliament is hailed as the last saviour to put women representation on a path of resurrection.What can be purpose of putting up namesake women representation in a country still miles away from the concept of women in power?What is the surety that it too wouldn’t fail like all other models of reservation?Have not we learned from our experience that all netas irrespective of their sex are birds of same flock?Will reservation experimentation guarantee representation over all social classes?Wont our democracy seem artificial dancing to set scripts?Will the society at large gain from the new political class?

In a country where women still are considered impure during their menstrual period and the barbarous practice of sati is still reported, we will continue to see women playing second fiddle to men in shaping the destiny of our country as in other fields.Until that changes,we will be betraying ourselves in taking solace in a little known woman president setting the perfect stage to extra constitutional power in a women party chief.

EPILOGUE
Kanimozhi (Karunanidhi's daughter) fails in a futile attempt to get into the central ministry that too as a first time MP,Supriya salve (Sharad pawar's prodigy) is busy making inroads into Maharashtrian heartland and Agatha sangma (P A Sangma's baby girl ) enrols as India's youngest minister.And may be these three will serve as case studies in a article of similar stature 25 years time from now.