By calling a Dalit woman candidate an ‘item’, Kamal Nath may have cost the Congress its chances in the MP bypolls
It has been less than a month that the Hathras gang-rape and murder of a Dalit woman got the nation’s sympathy. But in the absence of any action, the atrocities against her kind continue across the country, the latest incident reported from Kanpur Dehat in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. A Dalit woman was allegedly raped at gunpoint by two men, including a former village head. On the same day, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath belittled the BJP’s Dalit woman candidate, Imarti Devi, as an “item” at a rally ahead of the byelections in the State. Courtesy Bollywood, the word has a pejorative intent when used with respect to women. And when a leading politician, no less somebody of Nath’s standing, chooses to be politically incorrect and brash at a mass rally, it undoubtedly legitimises the exploitative mindset of the village headman or upper caste men in the hinterland. Nath may claim the morning after that he didn’t name anybody but considering that he was addressing voters in Devi’s constituency, is there any doubt about whom the barb was intended against? Public statements such as these endorse the feudal male’s predatory behaviour and expose the already disempowered Dalit women to further tyranny. Which is why beyond sympathy, there is no redress or a felt anger that translates into political will, agenda or action to stop their abuse once and for all. Nath may not be the only politician to have made misogynistic statements against women but that doesn’t excuse his latest gaffe, no matter how bitter his animosity with Devi may be politically. If he gets away without repercussions, then there’s a lot that’s wrong with not just the system but collective conscience. He was expected to be particularly attentive, considering he was addressing a rally just a fortnight ahead of the State’s bypolls, crucial to his and the Congress’ recovery in the State post the revolt of Jyotiraditya Scindia and the 22 MLAs that he took away with him to the BJP. Clearly, all he has done is score a self-goal by gifting the BJP an issue on a platter, which has lodged a complaint with the Election Commission for “making derogatory remarks against a Scheduled Caste candidate.” He is now being called out as being anti-Dalit and anti-woman, both constituencies his party depends upon. Besides, he should have been careful, considering that the Gandhi scions, Rahul and Priyanka, made Hathras central to their bounce-back into political relevance. They braved police barricades and an oppressive UP administration to meet the girls’ family and commiserate with them. The seasoned and mature politician that he is, surely Nath doesn’t need any coaching in handling political sensitivities at this time. One certainly didn’t expect him to be either intemperate or indiscreet in a manner that would cost him politically. It has clearly put the Congress on the backfoot, both at the State level and nationally.
Nath has an axe to grind with Devi, who is a Jyotiraditya loyalist and defected with him to the BJP. In fact, the sexist remark comes days after and probably as a hitback to Devi’s accusation that Nath bribed MLAs when he was Chief Minister, that he gave cash doles of Rs 5 lakh to Congress MLAs who could not be granted ministerial posts. About 28 Assembly seats are at stake in the bypolls, a sizeable number for Nath to bet his chances on. That seems to be a tall order now. Devi is now playing up the wrongs done against her, asking if she should be denied a political role simply because she is poor, a Scheduled Caste and a woman? She even maintained that Nath had a consistent bias against her, ignoring her at party meetings, slighting her, refusing to give her a decent hearing. And then she fired the most potent salvo, asking if he would behave like this with Priyanka Gandhi. Clearly, Nath has slid on his own sludge. His nemesis Jyotiraditya, too, has joined issue, fasting with Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for two hours, demanding that Nath be stopped from campaigning. This distasteful remark has robbed Nath of the moral pitch that he had woven his campaign on, as a vote against “Congress rebels”, who he said had disrespected the people’s mandate and crossed over to the BJP, selling out the party. Instead, he is now at the receiving end for betraying the Dalit cause. The BJP currently has 107 MLAs and the Congress 88. There are four Independents, two Samajwadi Party (SP) and one Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA. The Central party effectively has to win single digit seats to retain power. But Chouhan, who is battling challengers from within his own party and the discomfort of having to create space for a demanding Jyotiraditya, would ideally like to get at least two digits on the tally to retain his chair. The Congress would need to win all 28 seats to make it to 116, the half-way mark, a near-impossible task. It needs 20 plus seats to stitch up a coalition but with BJP waiting in the wings with resources to lure away the smaller parties in a prestige fight, that plan, too, is not quite within the realm of possibility now. Besides with most of the seats going to the bypolls being located in the Gwalior-Chambal region, which has the highest numbers of caste atrocities and violence and where the Dalit vote swing matters politically, Devi’s victimhood could prove to be crucial. Dalit supremo Mayawati has fielded her candidates in all seats. As far as Nath is considered, the bypolls are his last chance to take another shot at chief ministership. But by scorning a woman legislator, he may have just scripted his own downfall.
