LPG, rakhi and more: How Modi is tapping into women vote bank in time for 2024
With women comprising nearly 50% of the total electorate, their overwhelming support can make a big difference
Will nari power propel the BJP electorally? The Narendra Modi government seems to think so.
With just months to go for the Lok Sabha elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is increasingly reaching out to women voters nationally, particularly in the face of an aggressive Opposition.
The latest step in this direction is the decision to cut the cost of LPG cooking gas cylinders by Rs 200. The Modi government believes that amid mounting food prices, this will directly benefit 33 crore women who have liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections for domestic use.
The government has also decided to increase the total number of Ujjwala beneficiaries by giving out 75 lakh new connections, taking their total strength to 10.35 crore. The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana was launched by the Modi regime in 2016 to distribute 500 lakh LPG connections to women of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.
“The reduction in the cost of cylinders will help ease the lives of my sisters in my family, and it will make their lives better. I pray to God that all my sisters are happy and stay healthy,” Modi tweeted after announcing the price cut.
Rising LPG prices have been but a component of food inflation — soaring tomato prices, followed by onion prices, have hit households hard. Pulses still remain costly. But the LPG price cut, announced around the Raksha Bandhan festival, has been widely publicised as a women-friendly move, with Union Ministers like Anurag Thakur and Smriti Irani tweeting about it with effusive praise.
Substantial vote bank
With women voters comprising nearly 50 per cent of the total electorate, their overwhelming support can determine the electoral success of a political party.
“The Prime Minister is not just reaching out to women. This move (cutting LPG prices) also benefits families, especially the middle class and financially weaker sections,” said Sanjay Kumar, professor and co-director of Lokniti, a research programme at the New Delhi-based Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS).
It's not just cooking gas. Modi has been routinely talking about women’s empowerment and the important role they play in the country’s growth. After the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission landing, he met women scientists at the Indian SpaceResearch Organisation (ISRO) in Bengaluru and lauded their work. Addressing scientists at ISRO’s Telemetry Tracking and Command Network Mission Control Complex in Bengaluru, he said: "Women scientists played a key role in the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission."
On Raksha Bandhan day, he met girls from primary schools who sang to him and tied the rakhi.
A study done by Lokniti-CSDS suggests that in the 2019 general elections, there were more women voters than male voters in 24 of the 36 states and Union Territories. No wonder, all political parties are targeting women voters as a separate audience.
Further, there is a rising trend of Indian women making their own electoral choices, rather than voting for the party recommended by the menfolk in their famililies. A survey by CSDS also found out that more than 48 per cent of women are making independent decisions while choosing a political party during elections. During the 2009 general elections, the number of women taking independent decisions without any pressure or influence from family members was just 30 per cent.
Women's Reservation Bill
A key segment of the BJP government's blueprint to woo women voters could be the Women’s Reservation Bill, or the Constitution (One Hundred and Eighth Amendment) Bill. The piece of legislation seeks to reserve one-third of all the Lok Sabha and legislative assembly seats for women. According to the 2008 Bill, one-third of the total number of seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes will also be reserved for women of reserved groups at the Assembly and Parliament levels. The Bill, which was referred to the standing committee of Parliament, suggests that the reserved seats be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in the states and Union Territories.
The BJP leadership is under pressure from the Congress and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), which are demanding that the Women’s Reservation Bill, which was passed by the Rajya Sabha in March 2010 by the UPA government, be passed in the Lok Sabha by the BJP government. The current dispensation, after all, enjoys a clear majority in the Lok Sabha with 303 seats, point out the Opposition parties. Before the start of the recently concluded Monsoon Session and Budget Session, the Congress leadership demanded that the BJP to pass the Bill in the Lok Sabha.
In fact, speculation is rife that the surprise announcement of a Parliament session from September 18 to 22 could be centred around the Women's Reservation Bill, though more bets are being placed on the rollout of simultaenous elections for the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
Government schemes
BJP leaders emphasise that in the nine years of Modi regime, there has been a consistent attempt by the Union government to reach out to women and make them a part of India’s growth story. They say that women form more than 70 per cent of the beneficiaries of populist government programmes like Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. Similarly, under the Stand-Up India programme, more than 80 per cent of beneficiaries are women.
“The PM is very clear that we have to work towards the empowerment of 50 per cent of the population. The issue of making instant Triple Talaq illegal is also about women’s empowerment,” said Gopal Krishna Agarwal, a BJP spokesperson.
Speaking at the G20 Ministerial Conference on Women Empowerment, Modi said more than 46 per cent of the elected representatives in rural local bodies in India are women.
Leaders of the INDIA alliance, however, say the government has slashed the price of LPG because of the pressure from Opposition parties.
RSS on the move, too
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological parent of the BJP, has also started taking initiatives for greater involvement of women in all the organisations affiliated to it.
At the national executive meeting of the RSS in March this year, when all 35 affiliated groups were present, the annual reports of at least 11 outfits were presented by women.
RSS members said the organisation felt there should be greater involvement of women in all its affiliated groups.
“The day the government brings in the Women’s Reservation Bill, these women will become part of public and political life because they have been trained in public speaking, leadership and organisation building,” said Dilip Deodhar, a Nagpur-based author and observer of the RSS.
