Comment

In the early 1990s, a senior Congress politician from the conservative Maratha community complained about his wife not campaigning adequately for him in his constituency in western Maharashtra.

The wife retorted, “Frankly speaking, I hate to campaign. Why should I make false promises to women? I know that after the elections, while my husband will become an MLA, I will have to stay indoors. His priorities will be different, and I’ll have to live with the guilt of all the false promises.”Over the years, though, the wife gave in to political pressure, ready to play the secondary role in order to ensure that her husband did not lose out on the female vote bank.

It seemed like gender inequities in state politics might abate when in the early 1990s wives, daughters and nieces from conservative rural families in Maharashtra were allowed to step out of their homes to campaign for their husband, uncle or brother.

Even as men clung to their hot seat of power, they allowed the women to sweat it out in the heat and dust to capture for them the 50% female vote bank. But when it came to fielding the same women as candidates, they were refused tickets under the pretext of insufficient “elective merit”. The call for 33% reservation of seats for women is the outcome of such double standards, which dismissed women in the political field as the “bindi brigade”, and told them to stay out of “dirty politics”.

If the Women’s Reservation Bill does manage smooth passage, it will change the dynamics of state assemblies and the Parliament. Maharashtra, which contributes 48 MPs, will have to make space for 16 women MPs. In the state assembly, of the total 288 seats, the number of women MLAs will rise to 96. Currently, we have just 11 women in the state. From the present scenario it is clear that, compared with their sisters in rural Maharashtra, urban women will be in a better position to dominate electoral politics.

Women’s rights activist, Shyama Dalwai, says, “It is heartening to see more women finding representation in electoral politics. But when you understand the devious design behind this bill, I worry about who it is actually going to serve.” She argues, “The bill, which is bound to favour upper caste/class women, seems to aim at countering the political assertiveness displayed by the OBCs. It will mar the chances of 33 per cent of men from the OBC category.” But not everybody is ready to buy the argument. The NCP vice president Bharati Lavekar believes that the bill is a revolutionary step that will go a long way in challenging male dominance in politics.

Political managers in the Congress, BJP and NCP do admit that a system that is still embedded in caste politics will ensure that the state leaders short-listing the women candidates will do so according to caste dominance in the respective constituencies. Thus, upper caste dominance is likely to continue despite the quota.

Professor Surendra Jhondale, head of the political science department in Mumbai University, who believes that the bill will lead to greater divide between rural and urban women, says “Women from the ruling Maratha community will get more representation compared to others, thus keeping the overall caste composition intact. Established political families will retain their hold by fielding their wives, daughters and daughters-in-law.”

Reports from rural Maharashtra indicate that the number of women in active politics may have multiplied but decision-making remains in the hands of male members. Sena MP Bharatkumar Raut observed, “The question is whether women working at the grassroots across the state will take centre stage. In local bodies, majority of women, despite getting elected, are not the decision-makers. It is either the husband or the male party leader who holds the remote.”

Various women activists admit that it is difficult to ascertain what qualitative difference women from urban areas will make to the lives of those in rural Maharashtra. How does one explain incidents of Dalit women being paraded naked in rural Maharashtra despite the existence of 33% reservation for women in local bodies for 15 years now?

However, the optimism across women’s organisations representing left, right and centre politics clearly undermines the apprehensions raised in some quarters. As senior women bureaucrat Chandra Iyengar said, “Initially, there will be the bahu-beti raj (dynasty politics). But with the passage of time women with substance and merit will rise to take the political challenge.”