Jammu, September 30: Picking up the threads from our last post on women empowerment let us discuss why Jammu has been lacking in real women empowerment in political sphere.
Even though Jammu has produced many leading personalities among female folk in police, and civil administration the region is still lacking in producing a real women leader in politics who has the capacity to take on the political bigwigs on her own.
Notwithstanding the fact that focus in India is on women empowerment the reality is that Jammu has performed poorly on this front mostly due to male chauvinist attitude of the political leadership and the lack of enthusiasm of the women leaders to come to the fore front.
While many women leaders have risen to various posts but as said earlier all of them have been insignificant posts till now with a minister here or there and in most of the cases the blame lies equally on the male dominated political setup as well as the lack of real leadership qualities among the women politicians to take the plunge and instead remaining dependent on the recommendations of male political bigwigs for their promotion in the politics.
While ladies like Rani Bloria having charisma and capacity to become leaders have remained content within the Municipal Corporations the new breed like Mamta Singh, and Priya Sethi are yet to come to terms with the new found power that they veiled.
Having said that it is imperative that Jammu too grooms some of its ladies as well as male leaders for the future who can compete in this tough political competition and provide a line of leadership to take the crusade further if not to crescendo.
Among the current breed of politicians Priya Sethi has begun to assert in her ministry while Mamta Singh being the wife of the Deputy Chief Minister and a women leader of the BJP have all the ingredients to emerge as top women leaders of the region without being dependent on the male recommendations.
While these are just the assumptions as there is still lot to be done but the time and situation demands that Jammu must get its act together and groom a women of substance to be ready to take the mantle in any capacity whether that includes heading a party like Mehbooba Mufti or taking on the arrogant bureaucracy.
The slate as yet is clean and the ball lays in the court of the women leaders of this state to write new history by asserting their leadership, show results and take a lead rather than waiting for the bigwigs or party high command to push them further.
As far as current situation is concerned Priya Sethi is emerging as a women leader of substance who has begun to assert inspite of the fact that bureaucracy is fighting tooth and nail to keep her to a side trying to intimidate her into submission but people closer to education ministry say that she has come a long way since her induction into the ministry and is also tipped to be elevated to a cabinet berth in the next reshuffle.
Meanwhile with India going full throttle for women empowerment and Beti Bachao Beti Padao Abhiyan under Narendra Modi it is only to be seen how Jammu leadership converts this opportunity to its benefit by projecting a few women leaders from every party to groom them not as a show piece but as a assertive leaders so that we have a line of male and female leadership available to take on the mantle when required.