In order to reach out to the largely untapped segment of female voters, the BJP in Uttar Pradesh will now unleash women power in the state to tap this segment.
According to party sources, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma
Swaraj, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti, Rajya Sabha MPs Smriti Irani, Hema Malini and Kusum Rai and party secretary Vani Tripathi will play an active role in the UP Assembly poll campaign.
“Though our women leaders, we plan to reach out to women, particularly those in the rural interiors, who normally stay away from political rallies. We are asking our women party cadres to ensure a good female turnout when our female leaders address meetings. The idea is to involve the female population into the political process and make them aware of their rights,” said a senior BJP leader.
The BJP leader further pointed out that though UP had a woman chief minister in the state, Ms Mayawati’s interaction with the female population had remained non-existent.
“Even Mrs Sonia Gandhi does not mix freely with women outside her constituency for security reasons and this completely alienates female voters from the political process. Our women leaders will interact with women in groups, talk them on a one-to-one basis and listen to their problems which will naturally bring the BJP closer to women voters,” the leader added.
The party is aware that leaders like Ms Sushma Swaraj and Ms Uma Bharti are fluent in Hindi and some of the local dialects also and this will further endear them to the female population.
For the urban women voters, the party plans to bring Smriti Irani, who represents the modern urban woman, Hema Malini, Vani Tripathi (also an actor) and Kusum Rai for the campaign. All these women leaders have a glamour quotient attached to them and this turns them into crowd-pullers too.
The BJP leadership is aware that while the Congress and BSP do not have many women leaders except the top party leadership, the Samajwadi Party is also almost completely devoid of female leadership — especially after the exit of Ms Jaya Prada and Ms Jaya Bachchan. The party sees a golden opportunity for itself in the coming elections if it uses its women leaders to woo female voters.