No woman leader on dais raises eyebrows

KOZHIKODE: The absence of a woman leader on the dais when Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the BJP national council meeting here set tongues wagging.

The BJP boasts of its commitment to women’s empowerment and how it has provided onethird reservation to women in its organisational bodies, including the team of office-bearers. Women, however, remain underrepresented in the current team of office bearers.

BJP leaders said the seating arrangement on the dais was only for parliamentary board members of the party. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj, the lone woman member in this body, is travelling abroad.

“Had she been present, she would have got a seat on the dais,” a BJP functionary said. Swaraj is in the US to address the United Nations General Assembly on September 26.

Chief ministers were also seated on the dais but Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje was not present at the venue when Modi spoke. Anandiben Patel used to be a prominent woman face at such meetings in the past two years, but she resigned as Gujarat chief minister recently. She was present in the audience.

Andhra Pradesh leader D Purandeswari, general secretary Saroj Pandey and the party’s women wing chief Vijaya Rahatkar were present on the dais at the pre-lunch session when BJP president Amit Shah spoke. But the party failed to ensure the presence of a woman on the dais during Modi’s speech.