Chouhan's Promise of Women’s Safety is a Mere Jumla to Appease Women Voters in MP

As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gears up to woo women voters in Madhya Pradesh, the track record of its government in the state shows a spurt in cases of violence against women. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), 13 women are raped per day in the state, with 4,882 incidents of rape recorded in 2016 alone. These numbers include the small numbers of registered rape cases, excluding cases which went unrecorded. 

In a bid to appease women voters ahead of the elections in Madhya, the BJP has now tasked its Mahila Morcha to work on persuading women to vote for the party. A group of women volunteers, named ‘Kamal Shakti’ has been formed, wherein each member of the group will connect with 50 women in every constituency, NDTV reported. There will also be a drive to raise awareness of ‘pro-women’ schemes like Ladli Lakshmi Yojana, Teerth Darshan, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao and others, of the Modi government.

According to party sources, a WhatsApp group will be created to update women about the new policies and schemes and the ways to avail their benefits. Madhya Pradesh is scheduled to go to polls in November this year.

Earlier, ahead of Raksha Bandhan, state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan sent five lakh letters to women, focussing on the pro-women schemes run by the state government. It also promised women an environment of ‘prosperity and safety.’

There are three key issues on which the Chouhan government’s record is shocking. These are: violence, hunger and jobs. Available data confirms that the state continues to remain among the worst affected by violence against women, it remains one of the worst in terms of malnutrition of women and children (which is a reflection of extreme poverty and government neglect), and its record in providing jobs to women is abysmal.

And while the BJP government is boasting women’s empowerment and safety in the state, the NCRB data cited earlier tells a different story.  According to activists and commentators a huge chunk of ‘rape and sexual violence’ cases are not reported in our country because of the social stigma attached to it. In most of the cases, the family of a woman coerces her to not report such a case for it would bring shame to the family. 

“Madhya Pradesh had introduced a police women squad in the name of curbing violence but it had indulged in moral policing. This is showing us that moral policing is not going to curb violence against women. Violence against women is something that requires political will to fight misogyny and achieve justice for women, which is not in Madhya Pradesh at all,” said Kavita Krishnan, Secretary of All India Progressive Women’s Association.   

Also, a very disturbing trend has emerged where minors are being raped, including Kathua, Delhi, and  in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh. “All over country we have seen instances of violence as in BJP defending the rape accused (as in Kathua), refusing to act against their own party members. We should be discussing these things. They are unleashing violence against women in the name of Love Jihad,” she said.

While Chouhan is making promises of women ‘safety and security’, the NCRB data reveals alarming 6,264 cases of cruelty by husband and his relatives under Section 498A IPC – the most prevalent crime in the country. Almost 16.8% of women face cruelty by husband and his relatives, which is substantially higher than Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The alarming number of rape and sexual violence cases rupture BJP’s tall claims of safety. The total number of crime against women sums up to 79,591 in three years (2014, 2015 and 2016).

When it comes to women’s health, as per the National Family Health Survey 2015-16, only 6.6% of total children aged 6-23 months were receiving an adequate diet while 42.8%  children under 5 years are underweight. The figures also show that children under 5 years who are stunted (height-for-age) is 42% . Even children under 5 years who are wasted (weight-for-height) is 25.8%. Since , child health is dependent on the health of the mother, the data refutes the promise of women healthcare.

The proportion of pregnant women aged of 15-49 years who are anaemic is 52% – more than half of the population of pregnant women in the state -- while the proportion of non-pregnant women age 15-49 years who are anaemic is 52.4%. In contrast, women whose Body Mass Index (BMI) below normal is 28.%. These figures underline the fact that none of the promises of women empowerment, nutrition, maternal health have been taken care of by the Chouhan government.