Silent social engineering: Nitish, BJP compete to woo women voters ahead of Bihar polls

The first list of 43 candidates released by the Bharatiya Janata Party for the Bihar poll gives a good glimpse of the party’s strategy for the polls. By giving a large number of tickets to women, the BJP has made it clear that it is going straight for Nitish Kumar’s core constituency. [caption id=“attachment_2436104” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Image courtesy: Reuters[/caption] Nitish has nurtured the women’s constituency well and now it’s for BJP to make its move. Over 50 percent of candidates on the BJP’s first list in Bihar are women and youth. Does it offer a broad hint on the constituencies that would be critical to the party’s electoral strategy? Perhaps it does. Post-Narendra Modi, the party’s sense of urgency in engaging the youth does not need much elaboration. But for a party considered to be deeply patriarchal in its moorings, the emphasis on women is interesting. This, some poll observers believe, is a move to neutralise Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s perceived first-mover advantage among this section of the electorate. Beyond the caste and communal matrix of politics in Bihar, Nitish Kumar has silently gone about nurturing women as potential voters. Check out these statistics- - Nearly half of the more than three lakh contract teachers appointed in Bihar are women. -In 2006, Nitish’s government ensured 50 percent reservation for women in the three-tier panchayati raj bodies. Also, thirty-five percent of posts in the police force are reserved for women; it’s a first in the country. The state government has created a women’s battalion in the Bihar Military Police. -Free plots given to Mahadalit families are registered in the names of the women in the family. - Girl students in senior high school classes get Rs 150 per annum to buy sanitary napkins. Another initiative for girl students is a one-time cash incentives for girls clearing the matriculation The state government has launched a programme called Hunar to train Muslim girls. -Apart from what he has implemented already, Nitish has announced 35 percent reservation to women in all Bihar government jobs if he returns to power. To tackle the scourge of alcoholism in rural Bihar, he has promised a ban on liquor in the state. It could be just political rhetoric, but the canny JD(U) leader knows what appeals to women voters. In a state where women voters have been outnumbering their male counterparts in the last few elections, this is social engineering at its smartest. The BJP has to produce an effective counter to it. If more women find place on its candidates’ list for the assembly polls, it should not surprise anyone.