‘Actresses don’t represent women in politics’
Elections have always been full of colour, hysterical campaigns and suspense in Bihar. However, one Lok Sabha seat that has drawn attention of the masses and the experts alike is Siwan. That’s not because it is the birthplace of India’s first President Dr Rajendra Prasad but because two gang-lords have fielded their wives in the poll fray, in a bid to rule by proxy.
While former parliamentarian Mohammad Shahabuddin, who is serving time in the high-security Tihar Jail, has fielded his wife Heena Shahab, his rival Ajay Singh fielded his wife Kavita Singh in the poll fray.
The two underworld bosses have lengthy criminal records and hence are disqualified from contesting elections, which prompted them to put their wives forward to gain power.
Shahabuddin who represented the seat four times in the past, faces more than 40 criminal cases including murder, kidnapping, extortion and sedition, whereas Singh is an accused in at least 30 cases of the same nature.
The jumping into the poll fray by the wives of the ganglords has, thus, infused drama into the poll contest.
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Both candidates have been doing the rounds, village after village under the hot sun, and knocking on doors of the villagers to seek their votes.
One can be seen moving in her burqa (veil), while the other is treading the streets in sari. Heena Shahab is contesting on a Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) ticket whereas Kavita Singh is trying her luck on the ticket of ruling Janata Dal United (JD-U) which is headed by Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar.
The 52-year-old lawyer said women are finding it hard to move away from the drudgery of normal life.
“To boost the participation of women in politics, we need an accepting society. Financial background and family support also play a major role,” she said.
Of the 13 women candidates who were in the fray in Delhi in 2014, only Lekhi had come out on top. This time, she is pitted against Congress’s Ajay Maken, a two-time MP, and AAP’s Brijesh Goyal, a first-timer.
Lekhi also said Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra made the right choice by not contesting against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as it would have exposed her, her husband and the Congress’s campaign. “Had she decided to contest, a lot of murkier things would have come out in the open through the affidavits she would have filed before the electoral officers. There would have been a multi-fold exposure,” she claimed.
The TMC has given tickets to all the actresses as if they are the only representatives of womenfolk and ‘ordinary women’ are not worthy of being in politics.