Elections 2023: What is BJP's women outreach plan in poll-bound states?

Ahead of the upcoming Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has initiated a slew of outreach efforts, particularly among women voters

Tapping first-time voters, holding young women's conferences, and reaching out to professionals are just a few of the targeted strategies that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will employ as part of its massive outreach programme to women voters in the poll-bound states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh.

All three states will hold assembly elections later this year. 

Yuvati Sammelans to be held in poll-bound states

In an interview with ThePrint, Vanathi Srinivasan, national head of the BJP's Mahila Morcha - the party's women's wing said that the organisation would hold 1,000 'Yuvati Sammelans' (conferences for young women) in each assembly seat in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh.

 

The news comes amid speculation that women voters' support for the BJP may have dipped. According to the India Today-Axis My India exit poll, the Congress was preferred by 40 per cent of women voters, while the BJP was chosen by 34 per cent in the Karnataka elections, which were held in May.

The central leadership's concerns may have been heightened by two events this year that sparked public outrage: a wrestlers' protest over alleged sexual harassment by former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh and a viral video from Manipur showing two women being paraded naked by a mob.

BJP's plan to draw women's votes

Vanathi Srinivasan further stated that the party has already initiated outreach efforts, particularly among first-time women voters.

She added that the objective is to engage them in conversation and tell them about the Narendra Modi government's social schemes geared exclusively for them.

"In Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, we will step up our efforts to highlight how violence against women is on the rise and how the Congress government is ignoring women's safety," she said. 

In Rajasthan, the BJP has already made women's safety a prominent electoral issue, launching a statewide campaign called 'Nahi Sahega Rajasthan' to corner the state's Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government on the issue.

In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP will organise block-level interactions with women voters, Mahila Morcha national vice-president Rekha Gupta said, adding that the party will also organise voter awareness programmes for young voters. 

"Apart from this, on Raksha Bandhan (August 30), all women workers and women from each assembly segment will send a rakhi to Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan, who will hold a video conference with them to wish them on the day," she added.

Gupta further stated that the party intends to have women leaders' conferences in all smart cities in the poll-bound states.

She added that through these conferences, the party hopes to reach out to women professionals like doctors, teachers, and social workers.

Five states - Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, and Mizoram - will be going to polls in November-December this year. Of the five states, the BJP is in power only in Madhya Pradesh and runs an intense campaign to oust the Congress government in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.