Women Politicians Across Party Lines Say Electoral Tokenism Must End; Women Must Unite To Vote Women To Lok Sabha

Shakti –  “Political Power to Women” launched nationally in Delhi on February 12th at the Constitution Club of India. Over a 100 invitees attended the event including aspiring politicians, students, women’s groups, civil services aspirants, lawyers and others. Members of Parliament, party spokeswomen, leaders, political commentators and voter data analysts weighed in on how to maximise the number of women elected to the 17th Lok Sabha.
Nisha Agrawal of Team Shakti and ex-CEO of Oxfam India, in her welcome note emphasised that, “We are all aware about how much has changed with women in India in every other sphere from education to health, except in political representation. Shakti’s first goal is to better than the 16th Lok Sabha, and pressure parties to give more tickets to women, and enable more women to be elected this General Election.”

Tara Krishnaswamy, co-founder of Shakti in her opening presentation established the need for a women’s caucus in a democracy, “The natural progression of women into Parliament has gone from 24 women MPs in 1952 to 66 in 2014, amounting to not even one women MP added per year! We have no choice as citizens but to exert public pressure on political parties and exhort voters to vote for balance. Women candidates are more winnable in Lok Sabha elections, and in every single General Election since 1952,  as the Election Commission data shows (attached.)”
Shakti also announced the Shakti-Neta App survey from 15th January 2019 that was answered by 10 lakh registered voters across the rural, urban, women, men and youth demographic. The response to “Do you want more women MPs in Lok Sabha in 2019” was an emphatic 82.2% YES across 24 states. Attached are the states-wise results.
The first panel deliberated on “Promoting Women Candidates for the Lok Sabha Election,” moderated by Priya Sehgal, Editor NewsX. 
Divya Spandana, Social Media Chair of the INC, said that “She was the youngest in Parliament when elected in the 2013 by-poll and yet there were detractors that a woman was chosen to lead the Social Media Cell of the INC. I think the bill really needs to pass there is no other way. ” 
Divya Spandana made an open appeal to Shakti to “Create a mass movement for women across parties to come together. We, in Congress, we all will join you and march for the Women’s Reservation Bill to pass, no matter who comes to power.”

Shaina NC, BJP spokesperson from Maharashtra, was candid, “The numbers are appalling and until that is fixed, it is tokenism even if we have a Defence Minister or even a Prime Minister. Women must unite and really think about how we can build pressure within the parties. We don’t want charity. Politics is tough on the bladder for sure but women are now breaking all the stereotypes in politics by working late hours. Women must vote for women candidates.”
Kanimozhi, Rajya Sabha MP from Tamil Nadu revealed that, “To be taken seriously itself is a big achievement for a woman. She has to be at least twice as intelligent twice as hard working!  Party workers told my father not to put women candidates, as they won’t help them campaign – such perceptions exist. The political space is not used to accommodating women, and is completely woven around the male way of looking at processes and policies. It is not inclusive at all, and like every other field women will have to break the glass ceiling. We need women to work across ideology & party lines and support each other in Parliament to help this change.”

Radhika Ramaseshan, Sr Journalist commented that, “Despite numbers of women MPs across Indian states being abysmal, I’m really concerned about women politicians of the North. Dimple Yadav is the only new woman leader we have. I remember covering an election in TN and meeting a woman sarpanch, the sole breadwinner and with an alcoholic husband. She cut him off when he tried to interject in her governance.”
Smita Gupta of The Hindu Centre for Public Policy, called out the importance of the threshold, “Patriarchy exists in all parties whether they call themselves left, right or centre. If you have 181 women in Lok Sabha the whole power dynamic will change – you have to look at panchayats where there is critical mass – the first term they learn the ropes and then they can perform really well.”
The second panel, moderated by Neha Dixit, Independent Journalist, focused on what it would take to build a women’s vote bloc. 
Jagmati Sangwan, ex General Secretary of the AIDWA, who recently contested Mayoral elections in Rohtak, Haryana, pointed out the damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation for women leaders, “More women are agitating at ground level for wages, participation is there but representation is not there! In fighting for women’s rights and against oppression, the sexist campaign by men against me was that if you vote for Jagmati she will put eve teasers in jail!  Without Women’s Reservation Bill, it cannot be done in such a severely patriarchal society. There is still time; I appeal to BJP to realise their promise and pass the Bill.”

Lalitha Kumaramangalam, ex Chairperson of the National Commission of Women, and of the BJP,  suggested a formula for the women’s vote bloc: “More and more women, especially in rural areas, are becoming assertive in running their own lives and want economic independence. We have to talk to women voters as women, not as caste or any other identity. Women prefer women candidates but women in parties are not trained on how to aggressively demand the vote. Elections are won in last two weeks- how do you do it? Alcohol, violence against women, and jobs are the three most binding issues of women voters.”
Sushmita Dev, Member of Parliament, Silchar, Assam and President of the All India Mahila Congress reminded us that “Patriarchy begins at home. Less politicians begins at less women at colleges, and the emancipation of women starts with economic empowerment. The worst thing you can do to women empowerment is tokenism. For instance, when access to justice is the biggest challenge women are facing today, unless we address the actual delivery of justice, even passing laws is tokenism. Make  a man into the WCD Minister; that’s a start! Men in Parliament are asking why should we vacate our seats for women . If you increase seats in the Lok Sabha, they will have no issues with more women.”
The session concluded with Shakti committing to ramp up citizen pressure in the run up to the elections, pledging to promote and support women candidates, and optimistic that many more women will be contesting Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
Shakti is a non partisan inclusive platform of women across who have joined hands, regardless of region, caste, creed, ideology and setting aside our differences with single minded objective to get more women elected as MLAs and MPs. Shakti calls upon all men and women that believe in fair representation in politics to join us on bit.ly/shakti-india

Hassan BJP MLA Preetham Gowda’ supporter has been injured in stone pelting by Janata Dal (Secular) workers at MLA’s residence on Wednesday. Reacting to the incident Preetham Gowda said that Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has instructed his party workers to harm my family and murder him.

State BJP chief BS Yeddyurappa said that BJP will hold protest in Hassan to condemn the attack on BJP MLA Preetham Gowda’s residence. While condemning the attack, Yeddyurappa said attempts are being made to intimidate opposition leaders.

The lone BJP MLA from JDS-dominant Hassan district, Preetham Gowda allegedly made controversial remarks against JD(S) chief and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda in BS Yeddyurappa’s audio clip, according to reports. CM Kumaraswamy has written to Speaker Ramesh Kumar indicating that his office had been brought into disrepute in the recordings. “Hassan MLA Preetham Gowda (of BJP) was also present. The words I have heard have hurt me deeply. I could not have imagined that a member of the Legislature would speak in such a manner about the Speaker. I have sent the recording to you. As the Leader of the House, I would like you to consider the recordings and take suitable action as per law,” Wrote CM Kumaraswamy.

Agencies

New Delhi, Feb 12 (IANS) Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday put sister and party General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi in-charge of 41 Lok Sabha constituencies, including the family bastion of Amethi and Raebareli while General Secretary Jyotiraditya Scindia was entrusted with 39 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh.

Besides her brother’s constituency Amethi and mother Sonia Gandhi’s Raebreli, Priyanka has also been given the charge of Varanasi that
elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s home turf Gorakhpur.

The other key constituencies under her charge include Lucknow, Sultanpur, Phulpur, Allahabad, Barabanki and Kushinagar.

Among the key seats under Scindia include Saharanpur, Kairana, Muzaffarnagar, Moradabad, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Pilibhit, Dhaurahra,
Kanpur, and Farrukhabad and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav home turf of Mainpuri.

Both Priyanka and Scindia are in the state capital Lucknow interacting with party cadres to chalk out the roadmap for the Lok Sabha polls in the state which sends 80 members to the Lok Sabha.

Rahul Gandhi along with Priyanka and Scindia on Monday held a roadshow in Lucknow sounding the poll bugle for the state.

Nasheman News : The Supreme Court on Tuesday held former acting Director of CBI M. Nageswara Rao guilty of contempt of court and sentenced him along with agency’s legal advisor S. Bhasuran till the rising of the court.

A bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice Sanjiv Khanna also fined them Rs 1 lakh each. 

Chief Justice Gogoi said that in his last 20 years as a judge, he had not compromised on the dignity and honour of the court. 

Rao and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s legal advisor earned the wrath of the court for relieving former Additional Director A.K. Sharma from the agency without taking prior nod of the top court.

Holding Rao guilty of contempt of court, the judges noted that on January 18, 2019, when Sharma was relieved, Rao was aware of the court’s two orders asking the people concerned to approach the court first.

However, the same day, he signed a draft order sent by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) relieving Sharma from the CBI without satisfying whether the top court had been taken into confidence.

Sharma, who was heading the investigating team probing the Muzaffarpur shelter home horror case, had said that he could not be shunted out as the CBI needed to take the court’s permission.

Not accepting the “unconditional” apology tendered by Nageswara Rao and Bhasuran, the court in its order said: “The apology tendered, though stated to be unconditional, is not so. There is a contention that the action were not wilful, with which we do not agree.”

“We do not understand nor can we appreciate and comprehend how Mr. Nageswara Rao… being aware of the court’s order, as the first note signed by him would indicate, and when he sought an affidavit to be filed before this court by his second note dated 18. 1. 2019, could without satisfying himself that this court has been taken into confidence approve the draft order relieving Mr. A.K. Sharma from the CBI and giving additional charge to G.K. Goswami.”

Nasheman News : A delegation of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and its ally Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) met Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik at the Raj Bhawan on Wednesday and submitted a memorandum against the grounding of SP chief Akhilesh Yadav at the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport here.

The 15-member delegation, led by senior party leaders Ahmad Hasan and Rajendra Chowdhary, apprised the Governor of the development and registered their protest against what they termed was throttling of democratic and political rights. 

BSP supremo Mayawati has already castigated the Yogi Adityanath government over the action and called it a conspiracy to thwart their political movement across the state.

Yadav was to take a private chartered flight to Prayagraj on Tuesday where he was to attend a students union event, which was disapproved by the Allahabad University officials. 

The former Chief Minister was asked by district officials of Lucknow to go back to his home as the Allahabad administration had apprehended law and order issues if the SP leader visited the campus.

The incident had sparked protests across the state with SP workers disrupting traffic, taking to the roads and attacking government property.