The future is not hers

One of the major achievements of free India is the impressive performance of women in all areas of human endeavour. For this success Gand...

One of the major achievements of free India is the impressive performance of women in all areas of human endeavour. For this success Gandhiji laid the foundation by invoking women in the nationalist movement. However, there was no follow up of this incorporation and broadening of the base of political recruitment in right earnest after independence. Women8217;s participation in politics grew more out of family connections rather than either merit, achievement or commitment. To be somebody8217;s wife or daughter was the most important mechanism of entry to politics. Interestingly, in all such cases, women were promoted for a political office only when there was no other male member available to continue the family8217;s distinctive place in the political arena. It was a device to perpetuate the privileges of office.

In the classic case of Indira Gandhi8217;s choice for the Prime Minister by the Syndicate there was a shrewd assumption that as a woman she would be weak and could be dominated. It is a different matter that sheturned the table on her mentors and created a Congress party totally under her control. But interestingly even with this total control there was no visible inclination in her to widen the base of the Congress and incorporate women of substance from ordinary backgrounds. It is also a startling fact that she restricted her choice of political succession only to her sons confining her daughters-in-law to the domestic sphere. Both the daughters-in-law came to public life after the demise of their respective husbands. But the parallel ends there as Sanjay Gandhi8217;s widow was first driven out of Indira Gandhi8217;s household ingloriously and never considered as a successor to the dynasty.

Maneka Gandhi8217;s indomitable courage and perseverance enabled her to create her own separate and permanent place for herself in Indian politics by espousing causes never brought to the forefront like environment and animal welfare by the mainstream political parties.

Sonia Gandhi, rather than emulating the path of Maneka Gandhi,followed the well-tested rules of dynastic politics. She projected herself as a homely wife wedded to a famous political family and thereby claiming her inherent right to lead India8217;s oldest political organisation and the country. With no political training, she aspired for the highest office only by virtue of her marriage into an illustrious political family. Her success has so far been limited. She personally won the two Lok Sabha seats she contested but was an unmitigated disaster for her party that fared even worse than the stunning defeat of Indira Gandhi in 1977. This episode leads to an interesting conclusion that the Indian voters have accepted Sonia Gandhi as a daughter-in-law of a political family but not as a leader to lead the nation. This calls for an appraisal of the rise and relative fall of Sonia Gandhi from a feminist perspective.

Her foreign origins and her accented Hindi did not create much ripple in the two constituencies from where she contested and won. Hypothetically one can ask thequestion that suppose if the foreigner had been the son-in-law or husband rather than the daughter-in-law or wife, would it have elicited a similar response? The answer very likely would be a resounding no. As a daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi astutely projected herself as a part of the family, as one who identifies and amalgamates with the family. A husband is different. The idiom of prevailing patriarchy does not allow a husband to carry on the mantle of his wife after her de-mise. The male domination is an accepted fact in our social life and the limited endorsement of Sonia Gandhi8217;s restricted role in politics is a reflection of this domination.

Both the dominant religions accept this fact of male domination and reinforce patriarchy. The vote for Sonia Gandhi is an endorsement of this subordinate role of Indian women. Her conscious efforts to project herself as Indira Gandhi8217;s daughter-in-law and as Rajiv Gandhi8217;s widow is an acceptance of this fact of male domination.

Sonia Gandhi has won her limitedvictory by accepting this larger social reality of Indian patriarchy and in trying to do so she has sacrificed her identity as a woman who rejects and revolts against patriarchy. This strategy and its limited success reveals the secondary role of women in Indian society. Instead of projecting one8217;s own id-entity and thereby attempting to modernise Indian society such acts retard the march towards gender equity. By projecting the husband8217;s family as a key to political mobilisation, she has negated the reformative aspect of our nationalist struggle and aspirations of the majority of women. Her projection of women as domesticated and subordinate is a far cry from Gandhiji8217;s description of women as the finest soldier of nonviolent struggles.

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Only a transcendence from this pre-modern family identification can bring women into the centrestage of Indian politics. If this transformation does not take place, the disadvantages women suffer in society would continue and percolate through politics as well. Unless anduntil we can conceive of a liberal society with proper gender equity, political power in its essence will elude Indian women. This kind of politics harms the cause of women as the tradition for women8217;s liberation from Rammohan Roy to Nehru finds no ec-ho in such deliberately orchestrated endorsement of traditional stereotypes.

By espousing traditional stereotypes Sonia Gandhi is perpetuating the politics of yesteryears. This is completely out of tune with the changes that are discernible worldwide. The end of the cold war has brought to the forefront fresh opportunities that has led to the re-drawing of political priorities throughout the world. Social issues have become an integral part of the political agenda in all the well-established democracies. Even in India women have given crucial leadership to issues like environment and socio-economic problems. On the contrary, Sonia Gandhi has not spoken about women8217;s cause considering female illiteracy in India is just 35 per cent, way below the 63.9 per centfor men. Female infanticides, dowry deaths, child marriage, and other indignities against women continue.

However, the heartening fact of this feudal mindset is that it also restricts decisively the advancement of politically ambitious women who reinforce patriarchy. They remain alien from the grassroots and perpetuate a politics that is meaningless for most people in the country. Their ability to mobilise masses and articulate their needs and aspiration also remains impoverished. In this fast-changing volatile situation, the future is likely to belong to the Mayawatis and Mamata Bannerjees and not to the Sonia Gandhis and Rabri Devis.

The writer teaches political science in Delhi University