Rajmata was worried that my horse-riding may leave me without a suitable match: Yashodhara Raje Scindia

MUMBAI: The moderator opened the discussion rather gently, confiding to the three panelists and an audience predominantly consisting women that he had in the past anchored several discussions in the hall, but this for “obvious reasons” seemed to be different. Quick to respond, Madhya Pradesh minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia sought to know why this was different, forcing the moderator to gently step back, but gamely reply that it was “obvious”.

That, however, was the only occasion when a view was challenged by the panelists: Raje and her feisty party BJP colleague Shazia Ilmi and Aam Aadmi Party’s Atishi Marlena. They seemed to agree with each other on the burning topic: Women in Politics, Creating a Balance of Power.

It is about two decades since Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s NDA government in 1998 introduced a Bill seeking to reserve one-third of seats in the Lok Sabha and the state legislatures to women. That Bill is still in abeyance. The stranglehold of a male-dominated political eco-system is evident, for everyone to see.


Raje recounted how her mother, late Rajmata Vijayaraje Scindia of the Gwalior royal family, was among the few women in the sixties along with Indira Gandhi to wade into the male-dominated world of Indian politics and succeeded.

Also read: ET Women's Forum - Complete Coverage

But like many other Indian mothers, the Rajmata, too, harboured the fears and insecurities of getting her daughter married. Yashodhara was into equestrian activities, and her mother worried about broken bones from horse riding that could hamper her daughter get a suitable match in marriage. So it was not the downtrodden alone who had to struggle in a male-dominated world, Raje said.

Ilmi was forthright regarding the current state of affairs relating to women. While touting Narendra Modi’s cabinet for having 25% women in its ranks, she said the 11% representation of woman MPs in the Lok Sabha was abysmally low. “It is a pathetic state of affairs,” she rued.

She reasoned that it was not the responsibility of woman leaders alone to work to uplift women. Men have a major role to play as gender parity, gender justice and gender equality are mandated in the constitution as a responsibility for everybody, she said.

AAP’s Marlena disagreed. Any struggle for rights by any group should be done by the group, she said.

(The discussion was moderated by Bodhisatva Ganguly, executive editor, The Economic Times)