Women are a minority in Indian politics. During the 16th Lok Sabha, only 66 women made it to Parliament. But more than the math, it's the psychology that hurts the prospect of a strong female leader.
Picture this. A qualified woman from an influential political family makes a formal foray into mainstream politics. In a parallel world, she would be treated with awe, wonder, surprise, admiration, jealousy, apprehension and may be, hatred. But in India, she was met with sexist jibes.
The woman is Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and such was the extreme of the jibes that she had to face criticism even for a jeans-clad picture of hers on Twitter.
(File photo: AP)
Priyanka Gandhi's first brush with sexism was when when she was posed as one of the star campaigners of Congress ahead of the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Vinay Katiyar was not impressed. "There are many other women more beautiful than her. There are heroines, there are artists, they are more beautiful," he said.
(File photo: AP)
Another BJP leader and Union minister Mahendranath Pandey had called her a special utensil of the Congress, brought in to impress Uttar Pradesh voters before the assembly polls.
(File photo: AP)
And when Priyanka Gandhi Vadra entered mainstream politics, Bihar minister Vinod Narayan Jha commented: "She's very beautiful. But other than that she holds no political achievement or talent."
(File photo: AP)
Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar Sushil Kumar Modi did not like comparisons between Priyanka and her late grandmother, former prime minister Indira Gandhi. He said: "If a person could become as capable as someone else merely by resembling him or her, by now we would have had many Virat Kohlis and Amitabh Bachchans. Duplicates do not work in politics. Priyanka Gandhi might resemble Indira Gandhi, but there is a big difference."
(File photo: AP)
Sushil Kumar Modi later reduced Priyanka Gandhi to a "woman with a tainted life partner". He said: "Feroze Gandhi [Indira Gandhi's husband] was a good orator and an upright parliamentarian who had the guts to speak against his powerful father-in-law Jawaharlal Nehru. In comparison, Priyanka's businessman husband's irregular land transactions are spread across two states and he is facing probe."
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