3 weeks ago
Why India's Political Parties Don't Truly Care About Women's Empowerment
In India, there are many political parties, and they all say they want to help women and give them equal rights.
But a writer from a newspaper called The Indian Express says that is not really true.
She says parties only care about women when it helps them win arguments against their rivals.
For example, a leader named Udhayanidhi Stalin said some rude things about a woman and was arrested by police.
The police said his words insulted the woman's modesty, which means they hurt her dignity.
The writer says this happens a lot in Indian politics.
Sometimes, politicians say mean things about women on the other side, and everyone stays quiet.
But if someone says something mean about a woman on their own side, they get very angry and complain.
She also says that even after a court decided a case in favour of a wrestling official, people still worry that the government protects its own friends.
The writer says real change will happen when all parties stop using women as weapons to attack each other.
Tamil Nadu Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin was detained by police after innuendo-laden comments at a public meeting, on charges that included 'insulting the modesty' of a woman.
The controversy overshadowed the Cauvery water dispute, which was the issue that had brought the public meeting together in the first place.
The article argues that every party, from the BJP to Congress to regional outfits, condemns sexism only when it hurts its own side and weaponises women's dignity against rivals.
The phrase 'goongi gudiya', once used by Ram Manohar Lohia against Indira Gandhi, resurfaced this week when Congress used it against Nationalist Congress Party president Sunetra Pawar.
Former Wrestling Federation of India chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh was acquitted by a Delhi court this week, after women wrestlers protested at Jantar Mantar in 2023.
During recent Cockroach Janta Party-led protests in Delhi, women led slogans and stood between police lathis and fellow protesters, and their supporters countered online misogyny as a political argument.
- Who
- Udhayanidhi Stalin, Leader of the Opposition in Tamil Nadu; political parties in India including the BJP, Congress and regional outfits; women protesters, including wrestlers and Delhi protesters
- What
- An analysis arguing that Indian political parties weaponise misogyny and fail to genuinely support women's empowerment, citing recent controversies and court cases
- Where
- India, including Tamil Nadu and Delhi, with the Cauvery water dispute as the original backdrop
- When
- This week, when the Udhayanidhi Stalin controversy and the Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh acquittal occurred; the wrestlers' protests took place in 2023
- Why
- Because parties treat sexism as a partisan tool, condemning it only when it harms their own side and defending women only when they belong to a particular political camp
Critics of the political establishment
Defenders of party commitments and legal process
Do parties truly support women's empowerment?
Critics of the political establishment
All parties claim commitment to women's empowerment but treat misogyny as a partisan weapon, defending women only when they belong to their own political camp, and staying silent when allies or their own side is involved.
Defenders of party commitments and legal process
Every political formation from the BJP to Congress to regional outfits professes a commitment to women's empowerment, indicating the issue is taken seriously across the political spectrum.
The Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh case
Critics of the political establishment
It took months of protests and a Supreme Court intervention before the Delhi Police registered an FIR in a cognisable offence, showing a political establishment reluctant to act against one of its own; the acquittal cannot gloss over that fact.
Defenders of party commitments and legal process
A Delhi court acquitted Singh this week, and even the article concedes that people can make different things of the verdict, suggesting the legal process has now delivered its judgment.
Key facts
- Publication
- The Indian Express
- Writer
- Pooja Pillai, deputy associate editor
- Central incident
- Tamil Nadu LoP Udhayanidhi Stalin's police detention
- Police charge
- "Insulting the modesty" of a woman
- Original meeting topic
- Cauvery water dispute
- Recurring slur
- "Goongi gudiya" (dumb doll), used against Indira Gandhi and later Sunetra Pawar
- Court ruling
- Delhi court acquitted Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh this week
- Wrestlers' protest
- Jantar Mantar, 2023; FIR was registered only after months of protests and a Supreme Court intervention
Sources
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