Voting in a gender-bender

IKE cricket, Indian politics is full of glorious uncertainties. But it is also full of possibilities too. Amidst the numerous highlights of the recent elections, amidst the marigold-garlanded winners and the pale-faced losers of the game of electoral dice, amidst the Laloos and Navins and Om Prakash Chautalas in the fray, there was Madhya Pradesh’s Shabnam Mausi, as large as life. So who is Shabnam Mausi? Who is this Great Unfamiliar who essayed a famous win in a state assembly by-election — Madhya Pradesh’s Sohagpur — and polled more votes than those won by her formidable Congress and BJP rivals put together? To term politicians who are particularly ineffective as “hijras” or “eunuchs” is a common form of abuse. There is some irony then in the fact that India now has a eunuch for a politician. Yes, the very same Shabnam Mausi straddles both sexes. She is what is known in popular parlance as a “hijra”. In fact, she is the country’s first eunuch to be elected as a legislator.

Deconstructing her win then is something of a temptation. Why did people vote for Shabnam Mausi? The BJP candidate, who had lost to her, believed that it was some kind of joke perpetrated by people who had lost faith in political institutions. Perhaps it was. Such resentment, if indeed it was there, is hardly surprising given the fact that politicians, whether male or female, whether from this party or that, have systematically and convincingly let the people down. Shabnam’s constituency is a relatively high profile one, and had been represented by such eminences as the former governor of Gujarat, Krishna Pal Singh. But while those whom the people voted for went from strength to strength and carved out formidable political reputations for themselves, it made little difference to the region and to the lives of ordinary voters. Therefore, voting for Shabnam Mausi may well be an attempt to convey a message to the high and mighty: don’t take us for granted, or else…

And who knows, perhaps Shabnam Mausi may work more sincerely for her constituency than her predecessors did. Certainly the circumstances of her life should make her more sensitive to issues of poverty and social stigma. Maybe the country needs a Shabnam Mausi to fight the deep-rooted prejudices against eunuchs in India, which sometimes manifests itself in the most vile and violent ways. Indeed, such social ostracism very often has the effect of driving this community to the criminalised margins of society. Shabnam Mausi, incidentally, is not the first eunuch in the state to fight for and win political office in Madhya Pradesh. Recently, the municipal corporation elections at Katni witnessed the emergence of an eunuch, Kamla Jain, as mayor. Jain was very clear that she would work hard and sincerely to help the people of Katni and Shabnam Mausi may well have taken her cue from Jain.

Clearly, the ascendancy of the eunuch in politics is creating its own momentum. Uma Bharati of the BJP has been quick to jump on to the bandwagon. She has already indicated that her party would be open to the idea of fielding eunuchs as candidates in future elections.