In Gujarat, an experiment of sorts is being conducted to bring North and South closer, at least linguistically. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to the nation to celebrate the mother tongue and respect every language has been worked upon during the election campaign. And who can do that better than women?
Giving the office bearers a taste of diversity and working on bridging the language gap between North and South, Mahila Morcha of the BJP is ensuring that the southern office bearers works with their northern counterparts during elections in Gujarat.
Nearly 150 office bearers from across country have come to help in the Gujarat elections where each district has got a South Indian in-charge and every assembly has a north Indian and South Indian duo working to support women. While many would think that Tamil Nadu is proud of its language, those who are working in the Gujarat elections were awestruck after they saw how proud Gujaratis are of their language as well.
The electioneering in Gujarat is giving many of the Mahila Morcha office bearers a first time experience on how to give importance to the organisational structure.
“Public support is not permanent. Sometimes, wave comes and sometimes, it goes, but if the organisation is strong, we can withstand any wave. That is why, BJP is keen on building the organisation, and women cannot be left behind,” opined Vanathi Srinivasan, national president, Mahila Morcha, BJP.
Language Bridge Between North & South
The Mahila Morcha chief said one post holder from North India has been teamed with his counterpart from South. It is an attempt to create a better understanding about North and South to each one of them.
“Here, many from North India (think) South India means ‘Madrasi’ but when Mahila Morcha post holders from various southern states come and interact with women in North India for days doing organisational work together, they tell them how South India is not just Madras (Chennai). Kerala speaks Malyalam, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have different languages than Tamil Nadu,” said Srinivasan who is also an MLA from Tamil Nadu.
She believes that working together would mean that office bearers from South too will understand the importance other states give to their languages as well. “There are four to five Rajasthani dialects that we have learnt. This is an experience to learn about language, culture and food. I also made sure that North and South work together,” she added.
Srinivasan had experienced how important it is to work together and learn about each other’s culture and language during the Uttar Pradesh elections. She says it is now coming handy in breaking the north-south language and cultural barriers and misconceptions at least among women ‘karyakartas’.
“We have our office bearers in eight districts and mainly in urban areas. For each language, we are sending our office bearers. We have many Odiya people, so our national office bearer from Odisha is campaigning in Surat. Around 120 women are working in Gujarat. So, if we counter any problem we bring it to the party’s notice immediately and also let the local unit know,” added the chief of BJP’s women wing.
Depending on Women Voters
PM Modi has been stressing the role women have played in bringing the BJP to power in states and at the Centre — a learning that women Morcha too has gained during various elections.
“From Bihar elections, we could see that political victory of any party completely depends on women voters. Those days, we could see that because of local issues and religion, all political parties were eyeing on women votes. The shift is taking place. This is the real women empowerment. Irrespective of elections, assembly or parliamentary, political party manifestos have a dedicated section for women. At least that much impact is made by us. The importance is given to women voters. They are now considered as influential voter category. The time has gone when they would vote to whosoever is voted by their husbands,” said Srinivasan.
Freebies Against Work Done during Covid-19
MLA Srinivasan said women workers are dealing with those women, who get influenced by freebies such as ration and vaccination, by reminding them of the work the party did during the Covid-19 outbreak.
“We are explaining how we used to import everything, and how during difficult times women head takes care of all. Just like them, the BJP is also trying to resolve issues. And some issues that we as a country are facing and, for that, we need to be patient at least some time,” said Srinivasan.
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