J Sri Raman on Politics of gender and ‘patriotism’ and ultra nationalism

Daily Times, July 01, 2011

HUM HINDUSTANI: Politics of gender and ‘patriotism’

by J Sri Raman

Women in politics and power have needed a macho image more than the men. And nothing helps acquire the image, in politics beyond the provincial, more than ultra-nationalism

This may be far from the politics of gender as it figures in the pundits’ jargon. But we have been hearing a lot about women leaders in politics ever since the last round of state assembly elections in April-May. India now boasts three strong chief ministers of the ‘weaker’ sex — Mayawati Naina Kumari, Jayalalithaa Jayaram and Mamata Banerjee. Waiting in the wings, meanwhile, are at least two female luminaries of the far right, bidding for a bigger role in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Polls in the states of Tamilnadu and West Bengal have respectively put Jayalalithaa and Mamata in power, while Mayawati awaits assembly elections due in her Uttar Pradesh next year. All the three have acquired the reputation of giant-slayers. Jayalalithaa has routed a formidable alliance of the regionally entrenched Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Congress. Mamata has put an end to the three-decade-long rule of West Bengal by the Marxist-led Left. Mayawati, a dalit (untouchable) leader, performed a similar political feat in 2007 by achieving a massive electoral victory in the country’s most populous state.

All the three belong to a league of leaders whose strength is largely identified with ‘law and order’. They are credited with a particularly strong-arm approach to what seems to them lawless and disorderly conduct on the part of the political opposition.

So were a trio of prime ministers in the turbulent 70s — India’s Indira Gandhi (in office from 1966 to 1977 and from 1980 to 1984), Sri Lanka’s Sirimavo Bandaranaike (1960–1965, 1970–1977 and 1994–2000) and Golda Meir, the ‘Iron Lady’ of Israeli politics until Britain’s Margaret Thatcher was to snatch the title subsequently. In their case, however, the emphasis was less on law and order than on external and internal security. They were upheld as symbols of a ‘sovereignty’ that can be strengthened only by military means.

Unconcealed misogyny, of course, has always marked much of the witheringly contemptuous criticism, to which successful women leaders have been subjected. Males of the political species have not exactly been models of soft power. Ironically, however, women in politics and power have needed a macho image more than the men. And nothing helps acquire the image, in politics beyond the provincial, more than ultra-nationalism.

Which brings us back to the femme fatales of the far right, bidding for a bigger role in the BJP. An image of ultra-nationalism is not something they must invent and acquire. The halo may be hard to achieve for a Hema Malini, who has also to preserve her Bollywood-given Dream Girl image even while advertising a particular brand of purified water. It may also not quite tally with the telly-generated image of a Smriti Irani, the traditional Tulsi of a trite serial with the tell-tale title Kyonki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (literally, ‘Because the mother-in-law was also once a daughter-in-law’). But there are others, including two saffron-clad ‘saints’.

We are not talking, for the moment, of Sadhvi Ritambhara. The lady played a leading role in the mosque demolition of December 6, 1992, with her taped speeches branding India’s biggest minority as “Babar ki aulad (Babar’s off springs)”, marking the trail of violence to perhaps the most traumatic event in post-independence India. She was the founding chairperson of Durga Vahini (Army of Durga), the women’s wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

After lying low for a long time, she sprang a surprise on the nation by making an appearance on the dais of an ‘anti-black money’ campaign under Baba Ramdev, known for his billionaire devotees and their extravagant donations, including a Scottish island. Ritambhara did raise eyebrows with some voicing reservations about continuing their earlier support for the campaign. Whether this augurs her return to a frontline role in the parivar (the far-right ‘family’) remains to be seen.

Uma Bharti, the other orator of the Ayodhya movement in an ochre sari, on the other hand, has already returned to the BJP after expulsion from it six years ago. She is remembered not only for her on-site call to the far-right hordes to give a final ‘push’ (ek dhakka aur do) to a crumbling Babri Masjid. Also cherished is the memory of her attempt to create an Ayodhya in Hubli in the southern state of Karnataka in 1994. Her provocation to the minority there led to riots which, in turn, paved the way for the BJP capturing power in Karnataka on the strength of a communal constituency.

The BJP leadership says she has been entrusted with the task of wining UP back for the party in the coming assembly elections. Observers, however, wonder if she is not just being kept away from her home-state of Madhya Pradesh, where she was the BJP chief minister for a brief year (2003-04). It was her campaign against current Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan that cost her a place in the party in 2005. Some more speculation has been raised by her recent meeting with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, avowedly to seek support for a ‘Clean Ganga’ project, and her subsequent statement in praise of the “foreign-origin” target of so much far-right fury.

We can count on Sushma Swaraj, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha (lower house of India’s parliament) not to seek any such meeting with Sonia. Sushma’s claim to a special status inside the party, possibly as its candidate for prime ministership in the next general election of 2014, in fact, rests on her record of uncompromising opposition to the alien in India’s midst. The BJP leader is proud of having contested a parliamentary election against Sonia. She is even prouder of her vow in 2004 to shave off her tresses and wear white, in emulation of a traditional Hindu widow, if Italian Sonia was sworn in as India’s Prime Minister.

Sushma has strengthened her case for the candidature with her recent dance at the Raj Ghat, the tomb of Mahatma Gandhi, chosen by the BJP as a venue of anti-corruption protest. She swayed to the song of celebrated Sahir Ludhianvi in Naya Daur, a film from the 1950s: “Ye desh hai viir javaanon kaa/Alabelon kaa mastaanon kaa/Is desh kaa yaaron kyaa kahanaa/Ye desh hai duniyaa kaa gahanaa” (This is the country of brave youth/proud and playful/what can one say of this country, friends/this country is the world’s jewel).

Another song by the same poet, from another film (Dhool kaa Phool) of the 1950s, comes to mind. Sung to a child, the climactic lines say, “Yeh deen ke tajar ye watan bechne waale/yeh insaano ki laashon ke qafan bechne waale/tu in ke liye maut ka elaan banega/tu hindu banega na musalmaan banega/insaan ki aulaad hai, insaan banega” (These traders in faith, these merchants of the country/these sellers of the coffins of human bodies/you will become the proclamation of their death/you are neither a Hindu nor a Musalmaan/you are a human progeny, and you will remain a human being).

No leader of the BJP and its band, whether female or male, will dance to this song and tune of a different patriotism.

The writer is a journalist based in Chennai, India. A peace activist, he is also the author of a sheaf of poems titled At Gunpoint