On having a woman Chief Minister

Rekha Chowdhary
With the stalemate in the Government formation being over, the stage is set for the state to have the first ever woman Chief Minister. For a state that has token presence of women in the decision making bodies, this indeed is a historical moment. As the history of the post-1947 democratic politics shows, women have not been able to register their presence in the higher political offices. Though every political party has a women’s wing, very few women rise above the ordinary cadre and hold party offices. Still fewer women contest elections and a minuscule number are successful in getting elected and reaching upto ministerial positions. The figures of the latest 2014 Assembly elections are illustrative of such insignificant presence of women in the electoral politics. Of the 831 candidates who contested this election, as many as 803 were men and only 28 contestants were women. Since the electoral arena was monopolised by men (97%), of the 87 elected MLAs, only two were women.
It is in this dismal political scenario that one can appreciate Mehbooba Mufti’s rise to the highest political office of the state. Of course, many would attribute this to the dynastic factor. That she got access to politics, like many other women holding political offices in India via the family and dynastic route cannot be denied. In the patriarchal set up, it is easier for women to enter politics and gain acceptability if they come from the political families. Mehbooba also got the opportunity to join politics in 1996 because Mufti Sayeed fielded members of his family in elections, including his wife. She got the chance, most probably because her brother was not available for this purpose. However, despite the family connections, it would not be fair to say that her rise in politics has been only due to family connection. As we go through the history of her political career, we can see that after initial couple of years as her father’s daughter, she later emerged a leader in her own right. Till 1999, even when she was the leader of the Congress Legislative Party, she owed her political career to her father. It was the political space that he had carved over the years that she fitted in. However, the roles changed drastically after the PDP came into existence. PDP was a political party that was created by the father-daughter team and Mehbooba had as much a role to play in establishing and popularising this party in Kashmir as her father had. In fact, many would attribute the success of the PDP in 2002 election to the role that Mehbooba played in the years prior to the election. She helped build an image for the party that was people-oriented.
With NC monopolising the regional politics of Kashmir for more than half a century, getting local support for another Kashmir-based party was not an easy task. Since the very democratic space was limited in the context of militancy and separatism, it was all the more difficult to create space for a new party like the PDP. However, it was the combined effort of Mufti Sayeed and Mehbooba Mufti that the party could succeed not only in breaking the monopoly of the NC in the electoral politics of Kashmir but also in getting legitimacy for the PDP and the electoral politics per se. It was because of the intensive competition between these two parties that the 2002 election came to be seen as a credible election.
PDP, as stated above, was a joint project of the Mufti Sayeed and Mehbooba Mufti. While senior Mufti was known to be the seasoned politician who used his experience and administrative skills to manage the party,  Mehbooba helped the party to be popularised. She travelled across the valley, from town to town and village to village. While the party gave the slogan of ‘healing touch’, she became the face of that slogan and developed personal rapport with the people, especially those affected by conflict situation.
After the death of Mufti Sayeed, it was inevitable that Mehbooba should be the choice of the party to be the Chief Minister of the state. She had the right to inherit the legacy of Mufti Sayeed not only because she is the daughter of Mufti but because she was the founding member of the party and contributed to its rise. Among all the probable candidates to lead the party, she was certainly the most deserving one and if not above others, at least she was first among equals.
Looking from the gender lenses, one can say that having a woman Chief Minister is in itself important. However, it is difficult to say if Ms Mufti’s presence in this office would make a difference in the role of women in electoral politics. Thus is a question that does not have easy answers. If the case of many other capable and efficient women leaders in South Asia who rose to the highest political offices, is to be analysed, one does not find much hope. These women proved to be as good (or as bad) as male politicians, but their sheer presence in high profile positions did not lead to increasing the space for women in formal politics. In many cases, gender did not the form a concern of these women leaders and once in office, they actually become gender-neutral.
However, one would expect that Ms Mufti not only becomes a role model for many other women who are aspiring to hold political offices but also that her presence in politics would mean greater governmental attention to the gender issues. In this conflict ridden state where all kinds of identities are competing for political space, it is high time that politics of gender also occupies some space and women-related issues become the central concern of the political class.
(Feedback welcome at rekchowdhary@gmail.com)

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