Modi says it's 'women first' for government and party, but how serious is he?

In popular Indian joke-lore, almost every husband fondly refers to his wife as the "home minister". It's funny how this role for women has actually never found its way into the Indian political ecosphere, which has not seen a full-time woman home minister in 70 years of Independence. (Indira Gandhi held the portfolio between 1970 and 1973, but only as an additional charge during her prime ministership).

Yet, nobody cared to notice. That Mrs Gandhi became the PM was perhaps way more than this country's women could have ever even asked for, notwithstanding the much-criticised privileges that "earned" her the position in the first place.

In his defence, the current PM, Narendra Modi, can claim he’s creating history by having a council of ministers with nine women, six of whom hold the rank of Cabinet minister. The most striking one, Sushma Swaraj, became the first full-time woman external affairs minister in 2014. (Again, the only other woman to claim this post was Indira Gandhi, who held the portfolio in 1967-1969 and then briefly in 1984, as PM).

But is the appointment of women ministers enough to claim that the BJP is committed to genuine women’s empowerment?

After finding himself cornered by the Opposition and the national and international media following his "long silence" over the gang rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua, as well as the horrifying rape of a teenager in Unnao (whose father was allegedly killed by henchmen of the accused, a BJP MLA), ahead of the Karnataka polls on Saturday, PM Modi has declared the BJP a "women first" government.

Just around this declaration has come another big statement, from the country's first full-time woman defence minister — Nirmala Sitharaman. (Wondering about Mrs Gandhi in this regard, by the way? Of course she bestowed upon herself the opportunity in 1975, and then during 1980-1982 as well).

But, to cut back to the present, Sitharaman now seems to be waking up from a strange hibernation and straining every nerve to ensure the BJP’s “beti bachao” claim gets heard, even amid the election din.

During a May 7 FICCI event — ironically named "Stories That Matter" — Sitharaman, whilst releasing the Gender Parity Survey Report, said that "law agencies need to be more proactive to stop violence and crimes against women, even as many of these crimes are committed by either friends or family members". She also said it is "ridiculous to claim that a woman's attire is the reason behind a rape".

The minister, who also happens to be a former member of the National Commission for Women, clearly waited for the Kathua and Unnao storms to blow over before speaking about crimes against women – but she didn’t estimate how out of sync she sounded and how belated the remark was.

And this is exactly where women's emancipation takes a severe beating under the current dispensation, despite its many firsts of "championing" the women's cause.

While the BJP claims to be "an outspoken votary" of giving women their due in the legislature, the increased presence of women in the Cabinet doesn’t seem to have achieved the intended purpose. Do the NDA’s women ministers really have the freedom to express their thoughts on gender violence? Or, do they even care?

What could be more tragic than having women in positions of such power when the country's "daughters" can't look up to them in times of crises? In fact, that in itself is a huge crisis.

When the Modi government named Sitharaman as the country's defence minister, it seemed the glass ceiling was finally shattering. But not just Sitharaman, even Sushma Swaraj didn't come out to share the grief and anguish of the recent rape victims or their families. Was this simply because both crimes allegedly involved BJP-linked men in one way or the other? Swaraj at least cared to condemn Naresh Agrawal’s highly objectionable remark on Jaya Bachchan made recently. But was this pure politics, a criticism simply because BJP veterans were not happy with Agrawal’s joining the party?

Of course, many BJP supporters argue, it's not the job of a country's foreign or defence minister to address gender inequality. But shouldn't talking about women's rights come naturally to women ministers? What else is women’s empowerment?

Above all, when a party and its PM claim to be a government for women and flaunt its nari shakti-energised Cabinet, they might as well live up to the expectations they raise – or drop the pretence.

Nothing could highlight the contradictions at play more than while there was massive public outrage over the rapes mentioned, Modi's "nari shakti" personalities conveniently waited for a cue from the PM to speak up. Such silence makes rape cases as much a political problem as a social malaise; even if we settle for Sitharaman's tame "our boys need to be raised better" and "the police needs to be reformed" rhetoric, who will train our politicians or bring the badly needed change in their attitude?

A country where glib talk about gender equality is still laced with archaic slogans of "mahila shakti", even a full-time woman raksha mantri looks strangely unarmed to defend women's rights. She could have been a genuinely empowering figure – but she missed that boat recently.

The fact is, simply having more women in positions of power doesn't necessarily make a government more sensitive to women’s issues. Also, not all women are necessarily feminists, especially when they continue to perpetuate patriarchy by doing exactly what the patriarchs want them to do.

So when a Smriti Irani, a Nirmala Sitharaman or a Sushma Swaraj don't come forward to speak up for the women of this country, we should actually not be surprised. Our women ministers apparently speak up for others only when they know their own position is safe. Their constant struggle is to create a place for themselves without challenging any hyper-masculine 56-inch spaces - because that would mean the end of their own careers.

They apparently must care that the men around them don't feel threatened by their presence or their views – and, for that, feminism itself has to take a back seat.

All this would be palatable, but for that "nari shakti" mask.

Also read: Meet the hate-spewing, violent face of women's empowerment in 'Hindu Rashtra'