Why Women Should Fear AAP

Delhi will go to polls in a few days. The battle in the capital is essentially between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by Kiran Bedi, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) led by Arvind Kejriwal. One of the key issues in this election is the safety of women. Delhi’s record on women’s safety is abysmal, and ensuring the security of women is a key agenda for governance.

As a woman, safety is my most critical concern. On this specific issue, I personally have serious reservations about the Aam Admi Party. My discomfort starts at the basic level of representation. Today, the top leadership of the party hardly has any female faces. Recollect the people who represent the party - Arvind Kejriwal, Ashutosh, Manish Sisodia, Kumar Vishwas, Somnath Bharati, Ashish Khetan - it's an all male club.

This male takeover is a relatively new trend. At inception, AAP drew many enthusiastic and committed women to its ranks. However, there has been a steady change over the past year, where almost all prominent women have left after being disillusioned. Many of them have publicly stated that one of the reasons for their departure is the party’s treatment of women.

The exodus started with the departure of Madhu Bhaduri, one of the founding members of the party. She quit saying, “AAP doesn’t treat women as humans”. More recently, similar allegations have been made by Shazia Ilmi, who was once the female face of the party. She has criticised the “patronising” attitude of the male club. She has also cited cases where AAP workers allegedly mistreated women and the leadership deliberately chose to look away.

I don’t have trouble believing these charges as the case of Somanth Bharti, their former Law Minister, is etched in my mind. As many of you may remember, the man made headlines when he led a mob that illegally and shamefully attacked a few African women. He raided their home at mid-night, dragged the women out and charged them with prostitution in a public witch-hunt, based on hearsay. This misogynistic and lawless behaviour came from a man elected to defend the rule of law. Bharati’s case is still in court. The noteworthy thing is that instead of apologising for his shockingly uncouth conduct, AAP stood by the travesty and justified it. In fact, they were willing to shut down the Republic Day parade in 2014 to press their point.

Interestingly, this behaviour is inspired directly by Kejriwal’s political philosophy as written down in his book Swaraj. He recounts a story from ancient India to illustrate his idea of a perfect democracy. The crux of the tale is that once upon a time, in the Republic of “Vaishali”, the people’s assembly essentially decreed that a beautiful woman become a prostitute. The term used is “nagar vadhu”, which meant that she could be shared by the entire male citizenry. The woman put some conditions that were eventually met, and thus her fate was sealed. This story is used as an example of an ideal democracy. Kejriwal knows that the collective demand was wrong, and says as much in the book. However, he writes “the point that is being driven home by this example is to depict the power of the people”. Dear reader, can you connect the dots now? If this kind of mob rule was the ideal, then Somanth Bharati behaviour in following the mob’s wishes was perfectly justified in their eyes!

Please note that Bharati’s case was not the only controversy related to women. Earlier, Kumar Vishwas had poked fun at nurses from Kerala by referring to them as “kaali-peeli” (black and yellow). All this fits together with the fact that AAP has repeatedly supported Khap panchayats.

When leaders exhibit such scant regard for women, the sexism is bound to trickle down to the troops on the ground. This is perhaps why disrespectful and crass behaviour is rampant among supporters of the party online. Women who criticise or write anything against the party or its policies are subjected to the vilest kind of abuse, which is systematic. 
 
Most women at the receiving end cope by deleting the tweets and blocking the abusers, but it leaves behind a distinct sense of fear. For women, abuse online is not just about bad language. It is a grim reminder of their vulnerability and the daily safety challenges on the ground.

The AAP leadership has not yet acknowledged or apologised for the loutish behaviour of their supporters and defenders online.

The anti-women trend is not only upsetting but worrying. The capital is infamously being tarred as the “rape capital of the world”. While the perception may be a bit unfair, the lack of women’s safety is a very real problem. Any party that comes to power has to tackle the issue on a priority basis. Given the underlying philosophy of the party, and the misogynistic attitude of the leaders and the people who support it, will women really be safe under their rule? Can sexist men like Somnath Bharati now presume to be our defenders? Can leaders who ignore vile abuse by their online supporters act against those who abuse women on the streets? Will the women of modern Delhi be treated like those of Kejriwal’s ideal, ancient Vaishali?

The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of dna.