What a politically packed weekend it has turned out to be, taking the social media world — particularly Twitter — by storm. And, giving the BJP and its supporters, led by none less than the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, a huge opportunity to take potshots at that section of the media that refuses to say ‘ Ji huzoor’ to the saffron party, particularly its biggest hero right now.
I tuned into Modi’s Delhi rally — which created more interest than the Singh-Sharif talks in New York — where a massive crowd had turned out on Sunday. In the absence of a charismatic leader who can unseat Sheila Dixit as Delhi’s Chief Minister at a time when the Congress’ popularity is nose-diving, the BJP is counting big on Modi to get the tiny, but influential, state back into its fold. The likes of Madanlal Khurana and V. K. Malhotra had gifted Delhi away to the Congress in 1998, and it has been under Sheila’s firm grip over three terms.
As expected, Delhi’s BJP leaders were overshadowed and Modi towered over the horizon, dominated by 100 large LED screens to ensure that everybody inside and outside the venue could see and hear him. As the crowd continuously cheered him, a slightly irritated Modi had to tell them to pipe down so that “those seated behind can hear me”.
Scoffing at the challenge the BJP would pose to prevent her return to power a fourth time, Sheila wondered if Modi was the BJP’s Delhi’s CM candidate!
Women not visible
As he thundered “ Bhaiyo/Behno ” every two-three minutes in his characteristic oratorical style, I searched closely, but in vain, for shots of women. Perhaps they were in a different enclosure and the TV cameras didn’t pan them, but all that was visible were large numbers of young men waving and cheering.
More than any other segment, Modi has caught the imagination of the disillusioned, urban youth, frustrated by India’s tottering economy. But half of that substantial vote-bank consists of women; outside Gujarat — where women simply adore Modi — I find many young urban women still circumspect about both the BJP and Modi, because neither speaks the lingo the modern Indian woman wants to hear.
Take, for instance, Modi’s attacking Sheila Dixit for advising young women, after the Delhi gangrape incident, to return home early, instead of assuming responsibility to ensure law and order.
Thousands of urban women would have listened closely when Modi raised this topic. Surely, they were hoping for a greater degree of assurance from a probable prime minister, taking potshots at the Delhi Chief Minister. They would have liked to hear in emphatic tones that what mattered was not the time they returned home, but that the state law and order machinery would ensure their safety and security whenever they decided to do so.
As more and more women join the workforce, they do have irregular work hours and may be compelled to return home late. Also, in an equitable environment, surely, women should have the freedom to hang out with friends, stay out late if they choose to.
Dehati aurat drama
Then, of course, came the song and dance about the Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif allegedly calling the Indian Prime Minister a “ dehati aurat ”, as was claimed by the Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir, quoting from an off-the-record conversation. Modi was smart enough to steer clear of naming anybody but took enough swipes at Indian journalists, in the plural, who he charged had continued to eat “Nawaz Sharif’s mithai ” while he insulted their Prime Minister.
Other TV anchors — mostly women — were dragged in too, and in the cacophony of abuse, a clutch of sensible tweets on how feisty, hardworking, intelligent and caring village women were, was lost.
One tweet in particular was very pertinent. It asked, “Wasn’t Mother India about a dehati aurat ”, referring to the Mehboob Khan blockbuster of yesteryear, where Nargis shows how tough a typical Indian rural woman can be in the face of adversity. Of course, there are still songs like “ Duniya mei hum aaye hei toh jeena hi padenga, Jeevan hei agar zehar toh peena hi padenga” (A woman has no option but to carry on through suffering and pain), but that is another story!
Forget the hysterical Modisena, the doubt I am still nursing is whether Modi’s thundering support for the Indian prime minister has anything to do with the clichéd interpretation of a “village woman” being illiterate, ignorant and helpless, which she certainly is not. Or, has it to do with a man being compared to a woman?
If the latter is true, then clichés such as mardangi, chudiya pehen lo (manliness, wear bangles) and such outdated, derogatory references to issues associated with the inferior status of women in Indian samaj , crop up.
Certainly not the way to go for the man who will need a rich harvest of women’s votes if he wants to make the quantum leap from artificially constructed Red Forts to the real one after the 2014 elections.
Herein lies Modi’s dilemma… to do so, he will need to tread a tricky and narrow path. Between assuring Indian women — both modern/urban and traditional/rural — that in his scheme of things, women will play as important a role as men in building a resurgent India that he keeps promising us all the time. And keeping happy the BJP’s ideological boss, RSS, to which he owes his hurried anointing as the BJP’s PM candidate.
This Bhishma Pitama of the Sangh Parivar is yet to change its obsolete views on how India’s betiyaan aurbahuen should get the country’s gratitude and respect for being such excellent role models, holding families together, giving children solid moral values, and the like.
All this is fine, but the 21st century Indian woman needs much more, and whether dehati or shehri , like Oliver, she is already asking for more!
(Responses to rasheeda.bhagat@thehindu.co.in and blfeedback@thehindu.co.in)