‘BJP parliamentary board has only one woman…33% reservation may make more progress in states than Centre’
Rina Verma Williams is Professor of Political Science and Associate Dean for Social Sciences at the University of Cincinnati. Her book ‘Marginalised, Mobilised, Incorporated: Women and Religious Nationalism in Indian Democracy’ is a historical study of women’s involvement in Hindu nationalist politics. She shares with Renuka Bisht her ideas about BJP’s women workers and leaders
Studying the role of women in the Hindu Mahasabha in the late 19th and early 20th century, we see they never managed to include women – women were largely marginalised in the organisation. Bharatiya Jana Sangh did better. Then from 1980 onwards, BJP began mobilising women in earnest, effectively bringing them into the streets in support of the party’s causes and agendas.
ut only by 2014 did BJP find a way to incorporate women: this meant bringing women into positions of power within the party and giving them voice to speak for the party’s causes and agendas. Overall, BJP’s political success tracks with its increasing success in bringing women into the party.
.jpg)
_copy.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
