The latest political buzz in India is about four gritty women chief ministers in the country’s four corners, determined to keep their hold over what has been largely a male bastion.
Tamil Nadu’s J. Jayalalithaa, 67, is Amma, the mother figure. West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee, 61, is Didi, the big sister. In Gujarat on the west coast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s successor and protégé is Anandiben Patel, 75.
“Ben” as part of her name, typical of Gujarat, indicates sisterhood. And now, a “Baji”, meaning elder sister in Urdu, is about to take charge in troubled Jammu and Kashmir. Her taking the office will prove that India is much more a modern society that what the West tends to believe.
Mehbooba Mufti, 55, chief of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), carries the mantle of her father, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, who died earlier this month.
Mehbooba is tough and combative. Sayeed, admitting that he belonged to the “old school”, had left rebuilding of the party to her. Last year’s election victory proves that she has done a good job.
She is the undisputed successor to Sayeed’s legacy. She must now play the conciliator that her father was, and continue the tightrope walk that he did in governing the militancy-hit state along with coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), despite there being little in common between the two parties. She ignored other parties’ overtures for a “comfortable” alliance.
Wisely, she has played safe, not seeking conflict with the government in New Delhi that could work against the state’s interests.
Each of these women daily go through the rough and tumble of politics.
They are single — Anandiben is separated, Mehbooba is a divorcee, Mamata is unmarried and Jayalalithaa’s status remains a matter of fruitless speculation. Far from making them vulnerable, that gives them an aura of aloof toughness.
Senior to Modi in years and in public life, Anandiben was his reliable Number 2 for long. She battles a caste uprising from her Patel community as she struggles to maintain the high profile Gujarat enjoyed under Modi.
Another Western state, Goa, was once ruled by Shashikala Kakodkar. And long before Mamata on the eastern flank, Orissa (now Odisha) state was ruled by Nandini Satpathy.
Five-time chief minister Jayalalithaa seems to consolidate her position, barely surviving the Chennai floods, while a graft case appeal is pending before the Supreme Court. With numerous schemes launched for the poor, everything in Tamil Nadu is synonymous with “Amma”.
“Mamata Di” ousted the communists after they had been in power for 34 years. Corruption and controversies have coloured her rule that will face an electoral test this year. She dominates, but nothing can be predicted of a volatile West Bengal.
Rajasthan is ruled by Vasundhara Raje, a rare erstwhile royalty, scion of Gwalior and married into Dholpur, embracing democracy with aplomb. Into her second term, she remains immensely popular.
Women chief ministers, by the way, are not new to the Indian political scene.
First woman Chief Minister Sucheta Kripalani governed Uttar Pradesh, the most populous and politically powerful state some 50 years back. An “outsider” to the state, she was a Bengali married to a Sindhi.
Any assessment of Uttar Pradesh would be incomplete without talking of Mayawati, its four-time chief minister, who turned 60 this month. Whether in or out of power, Behenji (sister, again) exudes both awe and fear.
Currently a leading opposition leader and a member of parliament, she has worked tirelessly for the most depressed class to which she belongs, making significant contributions to its political and economic empowerment.
Mehbooba will be her state’s first woman chief minister. But Assam, at the eastern end of India, was ruled by Syeda Anwara Taimur in 1980-81. She remains the only woman and Muslim to head the state. Active at 79, she is a member of the All India United Democratic Front.
Muslim women holding high positions, by the way, is also no novelty for India. Delhi was ruled by Razia Sultana for four years between 1236 and 1240 CE and Chand Bibi ruled Bijapur and Ahmednagar in the late 16th century, constantly fighting Mughal Emperor Akbar.
Delhi’s transformation has been thanks to its longest-serving Chief Minister (1998-2013) Sheila Dikshit. A hard-core politician, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal had ruled in the “macho” Punjab for a year.
Each woman chief minister has proved that women in India can dictate their terms when they rise in power corridors on their own.
This discourse is, of course, confined to chief ministers and does not touch upon other women politicians, like Indira Gandhi who preceded Israel’s Golda Meir and Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, or other spheres of activity where women have excelled.
Nor does it touch upon several more women who became chief ministers to keep the seats warm for the men in their families or parties.
On the reverse is a solitary O. Paneerselvam, the man who has preceded and succeeded Jayalalithaa twice as the chief minister.
While the “proxies” remain footnotes of official data with no significant contribution, it would be most unfair to ignore Rabri Devi, foisted on Bihar state by husband Lalu Prasad Yadav when he got into trouble over graft issues,
She went on to rule for a record 2,746 days. With two of her sons now in the state government, the granny is now poised for a parliamentary debut.
Many of these ladies have inherited their positions from their fathers or husbands. While this did help them, they had to struggle to stay in power.
Most women chief ministers took charge of their states under chaotic conditions, proving their efficiency and effectiveness — or otherwise — on par with their male counterparts.
The position of a woman chief minister, of course, isn’t enough to establish gender equality.
However, holding significant and influential post in the largely male-dominated political hierarchy alters the social perception of women.
The writer is NST’s New Delhi
correspondent and vice-president of the Commonwealth Journalists Association and a consultant with ‘Power Politics’, a monthly magazine