SHIMLA: If the large presence of women at the BJP-sponsored Garib Kalyan Sammelan organised for PM Modi on Tuesday is any indication, then you may expect them to be aiming higher. The emerging ‘nari shakti’ (women’s power) didn’t go unnoticed: the PM mentioned it while pointing out ‘yuva shakti (youth power) of the poll-bound state.
The hill state is home to BJP chief JP Nadda and Union minister Anurag Thakur.
Most women at the Sammelan speaking to this newspaper echoed their political aspirations. “We have sent out a loud message to the party that we seek proportional participation in the party and government,” said Rinku Dev.
Most of these women are not highly educated, but have enough political awareness. “There is no doubt about the rising women’s enthusiasm in the state’s electoral politics. We have demonstrated it with a massive turn-up here. It means proportionate representation in the Assembly polls,” remarked Madhu, a woman worker from Kullu.
Himachal Pradesh has a gender ratio of 979 females for over 1,000 males in rural and 963 females over 1,000 males in urban areas in its population of over 73 lakh. “Even in the last panchayat polls, women voters had outnumbered their male counterparts in many districts. We hope PM Modi will not disappoint us”, Anamika Thakur from Mandi district said.
The number of registered women voters in Himachal is 26.58 lakh of the total 53.76 lakh voters.The ruling BJP under Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur aims to win the polls for a consecutive term – a prospect that doesn’t pass the ‘law of probability’ as BJP and Congress have taken turns to rule the state.