Iron
ladies of Indian democracy By
Siddharth Srivastava
NEW DELHI - Each of
the women now dominant in India's power stakes
ruthlessly executes their political aims, though
their styles and ideologies may differ. What
unites them, aside from being female in what is
still largely a male bastion, is the knowledge
that they need to be answerable only to the Indian
electorate, and can be punished and rewarded in
equal measure at the ballot-box. Mamata
Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, has
been in the limelight recently. She is joined at
the top by Jayalalitha, the chief minister of
Tamil Nadu, and then there is Mayawati, the former
chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, and Sonia Gandhi,
the all-powerful head of the Congress party that
leads the incumbent coalition federal government.
Any talk of women politicians would be incomplete
without mentioning the late Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi, who was known
for her uncanny ability to connect to the masses
and survive the vicissitudes of politics in the
world’s biggest democracy.
Mamata made a
mark by steamrolling economic reforms initiated by
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and lately for
withdrawing support of her party, the Trinamool
Congress from the ruling United Progressive
Alliance coalition at the center.
Mamata’s
politics emanate from her desire to be one with
the poor. This is the constituency she believes
voted her to power, shattering the Left parties
hold over West Bengal, for the first time in
decades. She thus shuns any move either symbolic
or real that she feels could distance her from her
supporters.
She eschews any trappings of
power, whether a big car or palatial housing. Her
bank balance is a few hundred thousand rupees,
compared to multi-billion fortunes that
politicians in India are known to amass illegally.
Dressed in a crushed cotton sari and
rubber chappals (sandals), Mamata resembles
a harassed commuter just alighted from a crowded
Kolkata bus. The look is of course carefully
crafted. Her strong opposition to opening of
India's retail market to overseas big business is
thus rooted to buttressing her ultra-left
polemics.
There, however, could be a limit
to her politics of obstruction. The poor of West
Bengal after all do not want to remain poor while
the rest of India reaps the benefits of a growing
economy. "Didi'' or elder sister as Mamata
is known, needs to shed the baggage of her
street-fighting days in opposition.
Mayawati, in a way is an antithesis of
Mamata, in terms of the image that she seeks to
portray. Mayawati has amassed a fortune in
properties and bank balances that she claims are
donations from her well-wishers that she cannot
refuse. She is particular about donning large
diamond earrings, matching bags and sandals, all
of course very expensive and branded.
Known as "Behenji'', or sister,
Mayawati derives her support from the dalit voter
base, considered the lowest in India's caste
hierarchy. She believes her deprived, down trodden
and historically exploited supporters need
something to cheer their spirits and uplift their
beaten self-confidence.
What better way
than to see one of them, that is her, dalit ke
beti (or daughter of a dalit) making it big
and strutting her expensive stuff. During her
tenure as chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India's
most populous state of over 200 million, Mayawati
spent tax money on setting up concrete parks
spread over large tracts of prime land.
Gargantuan statues of herself and other
dalit leaders were built inside these parks in
keeping with her political logic. Mayawati lost
the state elections as other castes deserted her,
but she continues to be very powerful, harboring
ambitions to be prime minister one day.
In
withdrawing her Bahujan Samaj Party's crucial
support for the Manmohan government, Mamata
reminds of another formidable woman in Indian
politics.
Although not well known
nationally, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa
Jayaram packs a mean punch, as the previous
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government under then
prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee found out.
Jayaram commands her party, the All India
Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), and the
state of Tamil Nadu with an iron fist. Her
genuflecting ministers and legislative members
prostrate themselves in her presence, referring
her as "amma'' or mother.
Vajpayee,
whose government survived on the support of the
AIADMK, would probably agree that some of
Jayalalitha's tantrums as coalition partner were
certainly not motherly.
Sonia Gandhi, of
course, is undoubtedly the most powerful woman in
India today. If Manmohan has been able to push
through the recent economic reforms, it is because
"Madam'' is okay with it.
During cabinet
meetings, all eyes are fixed not on Manmohan but
on Defense Minister AK Antony, as he unofficially
represents ``Madam.'' No decision or indecision is
possible without the concurrence of Sonia's proxy.
In India's great democracy, female leaders
make up for their gender's minority status through
sheer force of will.
Siddharth
Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist. He
can be reached at sidsri@yahoo.com
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