The Modi government has launched a few headline-grabbing flagship schemes, ostensibly aimed at improving the lives of women in India. However, the patriarchal mindset that lies at the core of the RSS-BJP belief system has ensured that the outcomes are very different from those envisaged in the scheme documents.
A former RSS chief said that women should be staying at home and cooking. The RSS is the fountainhead of the BJP. Are women allowed in an RSS shakha? So one cannot miss the irony that in the days leading up to Women’s Day (March 8), the Prime Minister, in the face of misogyny under his watch, has been waxing eloquent about “nari shakti”. Here are six instances when his government denigrated women, but they resisted powerfully.
Female farmers
Tens of thousands of women farmers, coming from places as distant as Chhattisgarh, gathered in makeshift camps in Delhi and at the borders of Punjab, Haryana, and UP to protest against the draconian farm bills. Some staged hunger strikes wearing bright yellow scarves that represented mustard fields, while others ran medical camps and soup kitchens. Amidst speeches and silent resistance, when the Supreme Court asked them to go home, the women farmers responded with a loud “No”.
The stakes were high. Distant and exploitative markets had rendered them extremely vulnerable. As per the NCRB, nearly 10 per cent of farmers who committed suicide in 2022 are women. Over 80 per cent of rural women work in agriculture but less than 13 per cent own any land.
The women of Shaheen Bagh
Enraged by the Union government’s decision to impose unconstitutional laws on citizenship against minorities, women protestors retaliated by staging a peaceful demonstration in Delhi’s Shaheen Bagh. The 101-day-long protest caught the world’s imagination as women across religions, ages and walks of life united. Shaheen Bagh became a symbol of intergenerational and intersectional political dissent to protect the Constitution. Inspired by the women there, demonstrations took place across the country.
The government clamped down with violence, specifically targeting minority-dominated areas in BJP-ruled states. In the face of severe backlash that questioned their patriotism, the women of Shaheen Bagh defiantly challenged the Prime Minister to come and speak with them. Of course, he did not.
Champion sportspersons
The sickening story of Brij Bhushan Singh — a BJP Lok Sabha MP and former President of the Wrestling Federation of India — is too well documented to bear repetition. He was present and voting when the Women’s Reservation Bill was being passed in the Lok Sabha. Enough said.
Community healthcare workers
In 2022, 10 lakh female health workers, who tirelessly provided last-mile primary care in India’s villages, were honoured with the WHO Director General’s Global Health Leaders Award. Once the Prime Minister’s tweets ceased, they were promptly cast into obscurity. Despite being the backbone of the nation’s healthcare system, ASHA workers continue to wait for the recognition they deserve.
For the last two years, more than 6,00,000 ASHA workers from all over the country have been protesting against the lack of protective gloves, PPE kits, and masks, delayed payments since the pandemic, absence of insurance coverage, and exploitative working conditions that have pushed them to the brink of poverty.
Chief Minister Ajay Bisht aka Yogi Adityanath had promised to increase the honorarium for ASHAs in Uttar Pradesh, purportedly to end the protests. Turns out, it was another jumla.
Women for Manipur
Since May 2022, over 180 lives have been lost and 60,000 people displaced in Manipur. The much-touted double-engine sarkar has miserably failed to control the situation. In July 2023, horrifying news broke about Manipur. Two women had been stripped naked and were videographed by a mob of men. Women’s organisations from across the country rose in solidarity and organised protest marches and demonstrations in Imphal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Delhi, Goa, Bhopal, and Bengaluru. Thousands of women took to the streets demanding the resignation of the Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh, owning moral responsibility for the incident.
It has been nine months, yet neither the state nor the Union government has taken any responsibility. The Prime Minister has not visited the state. In a dangerous precedent, not a single question on the issue has been admitted and answered in Parliament.
MGNREGA workers
Despite being one of the best performers under the scheme, the wages of 59 lakh MGNREGA workers from West Bengal have been withheld. Women constitute more than 50 per cent of the beneficiaries. Their access to livelihood has been cut off.
MGNREGA was more than just an Act; it was a guarantee, a promise by Parliament to the people of India, especially women. Today, that promise lies broken.
[This article was also published in The Indian Express | Friday, March 1, 2024]