Not just candidates, female faces missing from campaigns across J’khand

Ranchi: The first phase of Lok Sabha elections in the state is less than a week away, but female faces are becoming quite difficult to spot during electioneering. Not only are there just a few women candidates in the three constituencies, namely Chatra, Palamu and Lohardaga, that are going to polls on April 29, but also there is a dearth of female leaders in the lists of star campaigners for the state finalised by major political parties.
Only two female candidates are in the fray — Anjana Bhuiyaan from Bahujan Samaj Party and Sushma Mehta from CPI-ML, both in Palamu. A total of 59 candidates are contesting the polls from the three seats.
The grand old party has just four female faces—Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Nagma Morarji and Gunjan Singh — in the list of 40-odd star campaigners for the state. BJP has six such names, two state ministers Lois Marandi and Neera Yadav along with Uma Bharti, Hema Malini, Smriti Irani and Sushma Swaraj, in its list. JMM like Congress has just four female star campaigners, while Ajsu-P has three. RJD has five female names in its list of campaigners, including former Bihar CM Rabri Devi.
The female voters are not very happy with the conspicuous absence of female faces in the Lok Sabha elections across all the 14 seats in Jharkhand. Garima Topno, a postgraduate student of St Xavier’s College, Ranchi, said: “I feel bad when I don’t see enough female candidates in the fray, but the surprising fact is that you will also see only a handful of women in the rallies of political parties. Most often, it is difficult to spot females on the big stages set up for campaigns. It seems some still think that women are not capable enough to campaign for their parties.”
Kajal Poddar, secretary of women’s wing of state BJP, said: “We need leaders of national stature during campaigns. In Jharkhand, we have two such women leaders, Lois Marandi and Neera Yadav — and both have been named as star campaigners by the party.”
On the other hand, Shobha Yadav, president of women’s wing, Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik, blamed male dominance of politics for the lack of women. “The truth is that leaders rise from the grass-roots. And, in Jharkhand, there are not enough opportunities for women even at that level. Hence, it is obvious that not many women will be participating in election campaigns. The situation will change over time,” Yadav said.
For Anushka Raj, a student of BIT Mesra, Lalpur, the gender of the leaders doesn’t matter if they are focusing on women-friendly issues. “The absence of female candidates doesn’t matter much if the candidates are supportive of women. I believe that their work matters and not the gender,” she said.