Women brought down mighty men-recall Sita and Draupadi-and may do so again

Throughout the West Bengal elections, many of my Bengali friends settled for decades outside their home state agonised about the imminent destruction of their native culture. The refrain always was, “To us culture has always been more important than religion. Durga Pujo is a cultural, rather than a religious event, celebrated by all communities. Priests would smoke at the pandal, everybody would eat non-veg and at times even drink in good measure during the holidays.”

Friends rued the fact that the BJP had communalised and masculinised Durga Puja (with their obsession with Jai Shri Ram) rather than celebrate Shakti in the reverence of Goddess Durga as the Bengalis did. I assured my friends that the BJP was making a serious mistake by ignoring Bengal’s culture of woman power.

Mamata Banerjee was the only remaining female chief minister in India in a state which was the first to correct injustices against women, such as Sati, and is one of only two states in India (the other being neighbouring Assam with a similar culture) which has traditionally practised the Dayabhaga system of inheritance rather than the Mitakshara as practised by the rest of male-dominated India. Under the Dayabhaga system, the son is never the automatic or sole inheritor of a father's property. Daughters had full coparcenary rights. Women’s right to inherit property was perhaps the reason why Sati was prevalent in Bengal, an injustice that was speedily addressed and applied elsewhere in the country.

Such deep rooted culture cannot be effaced easily.

When Modi cat-called Mamatadi with his “Didi-o-o-o-o-Didi", I was sure he had lost the election, but even I was stunned by the margin of his defeat. The BJP will never be able to understand the consequences of harassing women. While the traditional greeting in India is 'Jai Siya Ram' and not 'Jai Sri Ram', the dropping of Sita's name from the original greeting was telling and showed the scant regard they have for women.

Unsurprising, since according to the RSS women’s primary role is that of home maker, to cook for the men and breed at least five, if not ten children. They forget that the mighty Ravana had to suffer a burning Lanka for kidnapping Sita and was ultimately completely destroyed. Similarly, the Kauravas, including the noble Karna, lost everything including their lives, under the wrath of Draupadi who they dared to insult and publicly humiliate. Mamatadi did not need a Lord Krishna or Lord Hanuman to rescue her from the combined male assault of the BJP. She alone proved enough for the task of taking them on and making them bite the dust.

BJP’s assault on Mamata Banerjee did not stop with the election results. They continued to needle her newly-elected government, so what does she do? Quietly steals back Mukul Roy, the vice president of the BJP and a former Trinamool Congress founder, who jumped ship and joined BJP in the wake of his alleged involvement in the Sarada chit fund scam.

Didi’s manoeuvre reminded me of Ajit Pawar joining hands with the BJP in Maharashtra for 80 hours as the Deputy Chief Minister only to get Devendra Fadnavis withdraw all cases against him. Done with a minimum of fuss and great finesse on part of the NCP (in fact, I am convinced that the entire defection was to facilitate this withdrawal), the BJP cannot now pursue the case with integrity. In the case of Mukul Roy too any future action against him on the alleged scams, which somehow remained hushed up as long as he was in BJP, would clearly be seen as vindictive. The case against the other accused is weakened as well.

To that extent, Roy's defection from the BJP, a ruling party of which he was vice president, is miles apart from that of Jitin Prasada from the Congress to the BJP in Uttar Pradesh. I was appalled when Prasada presided over a Brahmin Sabha as a member of a secular party. Congress should have instantly kicked him out for violating every norm and policy that the party holds dear. In fact, BJP is the place to be for castiest people like Prasada.

Some critics say Prasada should have migrated to the Samajwadi Party rather than the BJP but I wonder if even the SP would have welcomed him after blatant display of Brahminism. The BJP may have some limited use of him in getting the Brahmin votes given that Adityanath's overt patronage of Thakurs in Uttar Pradesh is causing the party some difficulty. But beyond that, how much value can Prasada, a four-time election loser, hold for BJP is doubtful. On the other hand, Mukul Roy, a TMC cofounder, known for his organisational skills was welcomed to the party by the chief minister herself.

So, it is better that the likes of Prasada exit the Congress and leave behind a cleaner organisation which can identify committed party ideologues to elevate into positions of power and importance. The Congress leadership must also not ignore the women power in its arsenal. I have noticed that the most articulate and passionate defenders of the party and of Rahul Gandhi are women leaders. These young Durgas should be primed into taking on more responsible positions and armed adequately to put chauvinism and patriarchy in its place.

We have seen in mythologies how kidnapping or humiliating a woman led to the fall of mighty empires. Making sleazy cat-calls towards a woman have triggered a similar change in India’s political landscape. Perhaps it is the silver lining India has been waiting for.

(The writer is an author and columnist. Views are personal)