BJP’s Mahila Jagran Manch

ANOTHER glass ceiling in the BJP was shattered last week with the appointment of Vasundhara Raje as president of the Rajasthan unit. For the first time, the party has entrusted a woman with the twin responsibilities of heading a state organisation and leading it into a crucial assembly election next year. If Raje pulls it off, she will join Sushma Swaraj and Uma Bharati as the third female face in the BJP’s pantheon of second generation leaders.

It’s a far cry from the days when Raje’s mother, late Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia, was the only woman of standing in a party dominated by men who treated the Mahila Morcha a housewifely adjunct. Today, Swaraj can boast, ‘‘The BJP has the highest number of women MPs in the Lok Sabha. And no government has had as many women ministers as ours. We have eight and all of them are from the BJP.’’

Gender politics is clearly having its impact on the BJP, forcing it to recast its patriarchal mould to give women increasing political space. Swaraj sees it as the inevitable outcome of the decision to reserve 33 per cent of seats in local elected bodies for women. ‘‘It’s destroyed the old argument that women politicians are not available. The reservation policy has created a pool of talent at the grassroots level. Women in panchayats and municipal corporations are emerging as leaders in their own right. And they are drawing more and more women into the political field. As a result, the women’s movement has grown and become a force. Political parties cannot escape from this reality.’’

There is another aspect. The age of communication places a premium on verbal skills and presentation, underlined by the growth of television as the most widely watched political theatre. There is little doubt that this has boosted the fortunes of women in the BJP which in any case has traditionally used prachar or propaganda as its main political tool. There’s a telling irony in the fact that after Vajpayee and Advani, Swaraj and Bharati are the most in demand for public speaking, whether at election rallies or party workers’ meetings. BJP sources confirm that both these women poll much higher with state units across the country than their male counterparts in a test for people’s skills.

No wonder then that Swaraj, with only 18 years in the BJP, is in the running for the top slot. Party circles point out that Vajpayee’s famed oratorial skills made him the most prominent public face of the Jan Sangh, ultimately catapulting him into the prime minister’s seat. It’s too simplistic to speculate whether Swaraj’s career graph or Bharati’s, for that matter, will follow the same path, but certainly, their acknowledged speaking prowess creates a momentum which can only work to their advantage.

From the time Advani demitted office as party president, Swaraj’s name has been in circulation as a possible successor. The BJP has yet to cross the Rubicon of allowing a woman to lead the organisation but party workers see Raje’s appointment as Rajasthan chief as an important step in that direction.

The Raje experiment is perhaps pivotal to future gender equations in the BJP. Her success, or failure, will establish whether the BJP, with its overtly macho ethos, can follow a woman leader. The party gambled on this once before without success, when Swaraj was foisted on as Delhi CM just before the 1998 assembly elections. It was a desperate bid to halt the plummeting fortunes of the BJP. To give the party credit, the leaders recognise that the collapse of that experiment had little to do with Swaraj. They realise that the decision was ill-timed and hasty and only exacerbated inner party tensions. Not wanting to repeat the mistake, this time the BJP leadership has decided to send Raje to Rajasthan well before the polls. The appointment has seen Jats and Rajputs both trying to appropriate her for their own. Says Gyan Prakash Pilania, patron of the Jat Mahasabha, ‘‘She is married in Dholpur, and so, according to tradition, considered a Jat. She is the best bet for the BJP.’’

Raje has more than a year to revive and reshape the moribund state unit, dominated since its inception by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat’s overpowering personality. She is unquestionably a parting gift from Shekhawat to his home state, a compromise candidate in a faction-ridden organisation. Shekhawat’s role in her appointment, overriding the objections of her male colleagues, cannot be minimised.

On the other hand, Bharati was not so fortunate. Although the central leadership was keen to make her president of the MP unit, she ran up against a formidable wall of opposition from state leaders. Without a mentor like Shekhawat to arrange a smooth entry for her, Bharati decided to stay put in Delhi. However, the high command seems determined to project her as the party’s chief ministerial nominee in next year’s assembly polls.

Bharati insists there was no gender bias in the opposition to her. ‘‘Don’t draw a distinction between men and women in this. When there is change, there is bound to be resistance, whether it is a man or a woman. The form that the attack takes may be different because men and women have different weaknesses,’’ she asserted.

Younger women leaders, on their way up the political ladder, are more candid. Arti Mehra, a second term BJP corporator in Delhi, says, ‘‘Men don’t give women their due right easily. A man is adjusted where possible. The trouble is that chamchagiriwali politics flourishes here. We women don’t have the knack for chamchagiri. But we cannot be stopped.’’

However, it remains to be seen what impact they have on the traditionalist outlook of the ultimate arbiter of the BJP’s fate, the RSS. So far, the Sangh bosses have adopted a benign attitude towards the women rising in the BJP hierarchy. Swaraj, Bharati and even Raje have their indulgence and blessings.

Swaraj, with her large bindi, sindoor and bahen-next-door appeal, fits neatly into their view of a traditional Hindu woman. Bharati’s saffron robes and religious fervour make up for her nontraditional lifestyle and outspoken views. Raje bears the stamp of royalty and her Scindia birth gives her brownie points with an organisation which revered her mother, the Rajmata.

But then former UP Chief Minister Kalyan Singh’s backward caste credentials once made him a formidable force in the BJP, till he overstepped the role assigned to him and started playing the caste card. His dishonourable exit from the BJP must surely serve as a warning to those who dare to be different and try to function outside the mores of the patriarchy.

(With inputs from Sukhmani Singh in Jaipur)