NEW DELHI: Only one in ten lawmakers elected at India’s national poll are female, despite pledges by politicians from all sides during the campaign to empower women, research published on Saturday said.
Women candidates won 61 out of 543 seats in the newly-elected national parliament, a small increase on the number in the outgoing one, data from the parliamentary think-tank PRS Legislative Research showed.
Final results show women taking 11.3 percent of the seats up for grabs, compared with 10.6 percent at the last national election five years ago, the think-tank based in New Delhi said.
Women in India have served as prime minister and president and headed political parties. Sonia Gandhi is the current president of the Congress party, which ruled for 10 years before its rout at the 2014 election.
But politics is mostly dominated by men in the traditionally patriarchal country, and only 633 women stood at the mammoth election out of a total 8,164 candidates, the research showed.
In recent months, Indian politicians have made a concerted effort to woo women, who make up 49 percent of the electorate, and some promised to pass a long-delayed bill that would reserve a third of seats in national and state assemblies for women.
Prime minister-elect Narendra Modi, whose party won the election in a landslide, was among leaders who stressed the need to empower women, including ensuring their personal safety, after the fatal gang rape of a student on a bus in Delhi in December 2012.
The crime, which shocked the nation, sparked days of protests and debate about widespread abuse of and discrimination against women in India, and led to tougher laws against rapists and other sex offenders.
According to Saturday’s research, the incoming parliament will also continue a trend which has seen older lawmakers win a growing number of seats in a country with an increasingly young electorate.
About 46 percent of newly elected lawmakers are aged over 55, setting a new record, while the number of elected MPs aged under 40 dropped from 79 in 2009 to 71, the lowest in India’s history.
India poll: Women candidates won 61 out of 543 seats
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As India remained glued to the television, while news of a thumping Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) victory in the recently concluded general election spread like wildfire, it seemed that I was witnessing the demise of the very idea of India — an idea that encompasses pluralism, liberal values and above all a spirit of brotherhood.
This very nature and essence of India has attracted millions of patriots in the sacred struggle of achieving the right to self-rule and preserving the nations’ secular values since time immemorial. My grandfather incidentally was one of those who trawled for a common cause with people having faith in secular values and humanism. He spent his time in incarceration with many political stalwarts during the 1921 Non-cooperation movement, which was organized under Mahatma Gandhi’s watch. I wondered what my grandfather’s reaction would have been had he been alive today?
Incidentally, my grandfather and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad — whose grand-niece is currently a senior BJP functionary — were in the same cell of Presidency Jail in Calcutta. He surely would have shuddered at the prospect of an India being ruled by the BJP with a single majority.
The same political outfit, having openly denounced the very rubric of secularism on which the nations’ existence hangs in balance, will now push through their agenda of Hindutva along with tyrannical capitalism freely. I have heard many BJP stalwarts invoking Swami Vivekananda to justify their version of majoritarian politics. But then Vivekananda had out-rightly rejected violent identity politics. His version of missionary Hinduism was interpreted wrongly by those who wanted India to turn into a militant Hindu nation. They unfortunately made selective interpretations of Vivekananda’s text and speeches. Will Narendra Modi adhere to Vivekananda’s advice of keeping ones’ mind pure and free from hatred?
Like Vivekananda, Modi too will hopefully realize someday that human beings are ultimately liberated into the minds of millions through their deeds. Perhaps Modi will do well to go through Vivekananda’s economic views as well before embarking on his journey toward establishing an outright capitalistic model of economy in India. Vivekananda was an old world Socialist who was awakened to the fact that a diverse India’s problems can only be solved through socialistic means even though he had candidly admitted that he could only be a socialist in part.
The BJP might have systematically usurped in front of our eyes Vivekananda’s rich legacy for political reasons, but they have failed to extract the real spirit that lies hidden in his ideals. Unlike Vivekananda, the BJP and its sister organizations are yet to grasp that a wholesome development of India and inter-communal amity are mutually reinforcing and this nation cannot have one without the other.
When initial emotions of this landslide victory die down, Modi will realize that his anointment has only widened democracy deficit in the world’s largest democracy. Despite creating a history of sort by helping India return to a single-party governance after three decades, Modi will never become a national hero whose following transcends the barrier of caste and creed. He will still get to rule India despite getting a very minor share of the sizeable Muslim and even Christian vote because of the country’s first past the post electoral system, but will be unable to remove a sense of fear or powerlessness that has already gripped the minority community.
Can Modi ensure that the Muslims, who have suffered a lot at the hands of Hindutva brigade, are not disempowered and they continue to have a stake in Indian politics?
After, the bitter poll campaign — laced with communal rhetoric — that was employed by the BJP to achieve political victory, the onus lies on Modi to take the first step of alleviating fear from the hearts and minds of the minority populace in India. Now that he is in a position of strength, it is time for Modi to reach out to the minority Muslims and Christians for bridging the divide. He has declared that the Indian Constitution and not his ideologues in Rashtriya Sayamsevak Sangh, would guide his actions. The next five years will decide whether Modi can live up to the expectations of billion plus Indians — those who voted for and against him.
Email: sengupta.seema@gmail.com
The great suspense over the outcome of the mega democratic electoral exercise in India has finally come to an end. To the astonishment of many, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has trounced the ruling Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and Narendra Modi has thundered to victory.
The exit polls had projected victory for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by the BJP. However, now with numbers favoring the BJP, it does not need support from its NDA allies. Contrary to the expectations of political pundits, India is all set to be ruled by a single-party government after over two decades.
Speculations are rife that Modi’s caste may at the last minute change the political scene and prevent him from taking over as the 14th prime minister of the world’s largest democracy. If this does not happen then India for the first time in its modern history will see a prime minister from Other Backward Classes (OBC).
It was the first time that BJP banked exclusively on its electoral campaign led by Modi. It was the first time that Modi gave an impression of having taken a complete U-turn from what used to be his anti-Muslim, communal agenda. During his campaign, Modi even lashed out at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, saying that Muslims in Gujarat are “better off” than they are in Bengal.
Key Indian politicians and parties have always banked on Indian media to add gusto to their campaigns. They did the same this time around. This election has proved to be a litmus test for the Indian media, which can play a crucial role in helping politicians achieve their goal i.e. victory. Keeping the tradition alive, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi led the party’s electoral campaign.
Arvind Kejriwal of the Aaam Aadmi Party (AAP) had been portrayed as a key player in the race alongside Rahul and Modi. However, he and his party failed to make waves in elections.
For the first time, Indian voters were given the right not to choose any candidate with the introduction of “None of the Above” (NOTA) option on the ballot papers. It is yet to be seen whether this option has strengthened democracy.
These elections could be termed as a battle between secularism and communalism. Now it is to be seen whether Modi retains his secular mask that he had effectively used during electioneering.
Muslim votes have always been accorded great importance in electoral battles. It is for the first time that just ahead of the results “news” started spreading about Muslims being scared of Modi heading the next government. Some reports also claimed that Muslims might turn to “militancy.” Undeniably, all political reports are not always factually correct. During this electoral battle, Indian media can be commended for achieving great heights in keeping people informed about politicians and parties in the race. At the same time, sections of media have faced strong criticism for playing a “political” role in according undue importance to distorted “reports.”
Email: nilofarsuhrawardy@hotmail.com
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