Talk ‘naari shakti’ and make them voiceless ciphers

Are we witnessing the slow and steady Talibanisation of a society blinded by the tenets of Hindutva? What else could explain the increasing disempowerment of women who are being reduced to voiceless ciphers? How else can one explain the language being used by chairpersons of statutory bodies to undermine the women they claim to champion?

The most recent example is that of Babita Chauhan, chairperson of the Uttar Pradesh state women’s commission, who issued a statement to the effect that women should get their physical measurements taken by women and not male tailors, gyms should have female trainers and shops selling women’s clothes should have female employees.

The statement, which has been circulated to all the district magistrates in UP, claims there have been complaints of ‘bad touch’. Not one of the 1,500 police stations scattered across the state has received such a complaint. Prof. Roop Rekha Verma, former vice-chancellor of Lucknow University, known for her commitment to fighting for women’s issues, questions how the chairperson of a women’s commission can make such a ‘sexist remark’.

“I am wonderstruck at this stupid remark. It is obvious the Hindutva brigade want a complete ghettoisation of our society and it is the weaker and deprived sections who will be hit,” said the doughty 81-year-old.

Verma believes, as do many others activists, that there is a “vicious design behind this move to deprive Muslims of the few jobs they still have access to”.

Right-wing governments across the globe are known to be anti-women and this government is no exception. In India, however, it seems the agenda is a little different. By all accounts, the aim is to introduce a manuvadi society based on the laws of Manusmriti, which justify the caste system.

That’s why caste rules in Uttar Pradesh. All key appointments in the bureaucracy are being given to members of the Thakur (Rajput) community. Why? Because that’s the caste CM Yogi Adityanath belongs to (as does Babita Chauhan).

Subhashini Ali, activist and former member of Parliament says, “An imposition (however subtle) of this caste system has meant that women must marry within their caste. This implies that a woman does not have the right to choose her life partner.” Young women have to battle both State and society when they exercise their right to choose their own partners. And when it happens to be a Hindu woman choosing a Muslim man, the bogey of ‘love jihad’ is raised.

The Uttarakhand government boasts about the Uniform Civil Code Code it has introduced in the state, but there is nothing progressive about its anti-women provisions. For instance, it has mandated that all live-in relationships must be registered or else the couple will face criminal action. Young people, especially women, have rightly pointed out that mandatory registration is extremely regressive and will lead to intrusion, harassment and blackmail.

This controversial code has deprived minorities of their personal laws and replaced them with a common set of laws governing marriage, divorce and succession which have been found to be unfavourable to women when compared to their personal laws.

Contrary to the rhetoric of naari shakti that the Sangh parivar invokes whenever expedient, the last decade, with Narendra Modi at the helm, has seen a serious erosion in the stature of Indian women and a marked hostility towards feminist organisations.

This is closely correlated tothe global rise of far-right wing populist forces, which in turn has encouraged the rise of unmasked misogyny and the defence of conservative gender models. In India, this has meant the evocation of ‘Sati Savitri’ as the archetype of Indian womanhood.

This right-wing agenda is implemented by systematically destroying all progressive civil society groups, human rights groups and people’s movements by all and any means, including changing the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act to choke foreign funding to these organisations.

Feminist Sujata Madhok pointed out, “The BJP has ensured funding for its own think tanks while others face intense scrutiny by various agencies. The BJP has never had a strong women’s front; as a result, it has been unable to envisage any real programmes for women’s empowerment. It has only introduced a few populist programmes and doled out money to poor women on the eve of elections.

"It has used institutions that have grown out of the women’s movement such as the National Commission for Women and the state women’s commissions for purely political purposes, for instance, to investigate rape in Opposition-ruled states. The BJP lacks strong women leaders. Over the years, the few who came to prominence have been effectively sidelined. On the other hand, women activists and leaders who have opposed the Modi government’s policies have faced arrests, investigations, police enquiries and other forms of harassment.”

Practically no serious attempt is being made to control the rising crime graph against women and stop the frequent cases of gang rape across the country.

Dr Ranjana Kumari, who heads the Centre for Social Research in Delhi, talks about the alarming trend where cases of crimes against women are no longer being taken to their conclusion. The most recent being the R.G. Kar alleged rape-and-murder case which was handed over to the CBI on orders from the Supreme Court. “What are the conclusions of the CBI? We would like to know what conclusions they arrived at. [These have] not been put in the public domain and the case has died down completely,” said Kumari.

The sad reality of the country is that women are seen as vote banks to be bought over with five kilos of grain. Where are the women in public life who can be role models? In a recent interaction with students, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman dismissed the ‘patriarchal concept’ as ‘fantastic jargon’ and urged women not to hide behind terms like patriarchy to justify their shortcomings.

The Modi government claims to have taken two major initiatives that will benefit women. The first is the Women Reservation Bill, 2023 and the second is the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019.

The former, which seeks to reserve 33 per cent of seats in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies for women, does not come into effect until 2030. The latter seeks to benefit women by criminalising triple talaq (which had already been done de facto through several court judgements).

The provisions of this ostensibly pro-women Act make it a double-edged sword. While it makes instant divorce illegal, in effect it punishes the women and children. With the offending husband in jail, the family does not get the maintenance due to them.

The ordinary woman today is under the constant stress of balancing her household budget in the face of high inflation. Work opportunities for women are few and far between, particularly post-demonetisation and Covid. An illusion of female empowerment is just that — an illusion created by the media. Paying lip service to women’s empowerment and announcing ad hoc doles when elections are round the corner do not hide the ugly reality that women in India are much worse off today under the yoke of this conservative ruling dispensation.