Rekha Gupta’s appointment as Delhi’s first woman Chief Minister sparked celebrations among women, yet her all-male cabinet raised questions about the BJP’s commitment to gender empowerment.
SPOTLIGHT-BY KUMKUM CHADHA
When Rekha Gupta’s name was announced as Chief Minister, the women of Delhi danced: literally. In her elevation, they saw a victory of women power: one that had scored over caste, community et all.
But that’s where it ended. Unfortunately.
Amid the celebratory dance and song, what stared one in the face was an all-male cabinet headed by the only woman: Rekha Gupta.
All six who comprise Gupta’s Cabinet are men: dashing all hopes of women dominating Delhi’s governance.
Before Gupta’s name was announced, there was speculation that the BJP leadership would want to give gender a push.
Naming Gupta too raised hopes that more women would be included in the Cabinet. But as it turned out, it was Gupta, the lone woman, leading an all-men pack.
Even for the Speaker of the Assembly, the choice was a man: Vijendra Gupta, a third time MLA from Rohini.
Therefore, it is not without reason that some ask: Was the BJP indulging in mere tokenism?
Until the actual announcement, Gupta’s name was kept under wraps. In fact, the BJP had sent out invites for the Chief Minister’s swearing in without saying who would finally take the oath.
But then secrecy and surprise are hallmarks of the Modi dispensation particularly when it comes to handpicking chief ministers.
Till the formal announcement, technically three and in reality, only two people are aware of what will unfold: Modi and Union Minister Amit Shah. BJP Chief J.P.Nadda name does figure but that, according to sources, is only notional.
To begin from the beginning: When Yogi Adityanath was denied permission to go abroad, he did not know what was in store.
Way back in 2017, Yogi was recovering from hectic campaigning. He needed a break and the scheduled tour was more than he could have asked for. But the Modi-Shah duo had other plans. Within days of denying him the overseas sojourn, he was told to take charge of Uttar Pradesh as its Chief Minister.
A few years later, when Bhupendra Patel was planting saplings in Ahmedabad in his home state Gujarat, he was summoned to the Party office. When his name was announced as Chief Minister, many sought to know: Who Patel? Which Patel? Why Patel? There were no easy answers and to question Modi-Shah’s decision, even then as now, is like questioning God.
That apart, lobbying is something the BJP top brass frowns upon.
In Rajasthan, when former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje had flexed her muscle and attempted to showcase 40 MLAs in her support, she was given a go-by.
Going forward, handpicking first time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma in Rajasthan, Mohan Yadav in Madhya Pradesh or Vishnu Deo Sai in Chhattisgarh are other examples of Modi’s out of the box decisions when it comes to Chief Ministers.
Another reason for the late announcement in Delhi, was probably the fear of dissension coming out in the open.
Parvesh Singh Verma, now in Gupta’s Cabinet, was a front runner. His claim to fame: he had defeated Aam Aadmi Party Chief and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. In the process, he earned the tag of a giant slayer.
That apart, he is the son of Delhi’s former Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma: a fact he never forgets to flag.
Except for this and his being a Jat face, Verma has little to show.
A former MP, he was denied a ticket by the Party to contest the Lok Sabha elections last year.
Whether his recent victory was a positive vote for him or the electorate’s bid to oust Kejriwal remains a question mark.
As for being a giant slayer, in the BJP scheme of things, this does little.
In this context former Union Minister and MP, Smriti Irani comes to mind.
In the Lok Sabha election in 2019, when she defeated Rahul Gandhi in Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, her supporters expected her to be rewarded with an important portfolio in the Union Cabinet.
Mr. Modi did include her in his Cabinet but assigned her the non-descript Women and Child Development Ministry. It was to quote a BJP leader “a consolation prize” for an obvious winner.
Cut to the present, when Verma was overtaken by Gupta as CM. His body language betrayed his disappointment.
During the arti along the banks of the river Yamuna that followed the swearing in, he came across a reluctant participant.
Therefore, apart from governance challenges, Rekha Gupta would have to handle heartburn of the likes of Verma, if not cajole him at regular intervals.
As for Rekha Gupta, she does tick the gender and caste boxes. A woman, she belongs to the traders’ community.
A Vaish by caste, Gupta’s choice resonates with BJP’s traditional vote base: the trading community which proved crucial in BJP’s recent victory in Delhi.
Caste apart, Gupta’s choice was a bid to tell the women voters both in Delhi and across the nation, that gender welfare is central to Prime Minister Modi’s governance.
Rewind to Prime Minister Modi’s first speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort way back in 2014, wherein he underlined the need for a toilet in every rural home and separate toilets for girls in schools. An unusual topic by Modi’s own admission, yet it was one that touched a chord.
Quite like many of his other women-centric schemes, including a gas connection and house ownership for the woman member of a household.
Equally, during the Delhi elections, the BJP had announced women centric schemes including monthly financial assistance, free bus travel, nutritional kits for pregnant women.
That Rekha Gupta has enough on her plate is a given. Apart from her own drawing board, she has a long list of Prime Minister Modi’s initiatives to work on. In addition, she is set to rework AAP government schemes with a BJP twist and showcase them as their own.
For instance, her government has already announced renaming Mohalla clinics as Ayushman Arogya mandirs, making them corruption free and enhancing health services in the capital city of Delhi.
Gender apart, issues of caste and community also weighed in during Delhi’s Cabinet formation.
Gupta’s Cabinet comprises Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Ashish Sood, Ravinder Indraj Singh, Kapil Mishra, Pankaj Kumar Singh and Parvesh Verma.
Do they tick the boxes? The results are mixed.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the richest MLA in Delhi with declared assets worth Rs 248 crores, is a Sikh. His inclusion, to quote him, is “justice done” given that the Delhi Cabinet has always had a Sikh. It was during Kejriwal’s tenure that the community was given a short-shrift.
That apart, the scars of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi have not healed. Equally, Mrs Indira Gandhi’s decision to send the Army into the Golden Temple has alienated the Sikh community from the Congress.
Sirsa’s credentials as a devout Sikh too are intact given that he has served as President of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee. Against this backdrop, Sirsa’s inclusion fits in.
Sikhs apart, the BJP has accommodated the Punjabi community through Ashish Sood’s induction in the Cabinet. The Punjabi vote bank played a crucial role in this election given that the BJP won 17 of the 20 Punjabi dominated constituencies across Delhi.
Quite like the Purvanchalis, which helped the BJP win in 11 of the 14 constituencies dominated by them.
Consequently, handpicking Pankaj Singh was killing two birds with one stone: a signal to the voters in Delhi as well as Bihar where the elections are due later in the year. Singh is, both, a Purvanchali and Thakur face and by that measure he simultaneously ticks two boxes at one go.
The Purvanchali voters make up for 30 percent of the city’s electorate. In 2015 and 2020, this electorate had played a key role in AAP’s landslide victory. This time around it has shifted to the BJP.
For record, Prime Minister Modi in his victory speech had specifically thanked the Purvanchalis for their electoral support.
As for the Dalits, it is for the first time that they rallied around the BJP in Delhi. Of the 12 reserved seats, the BJP claimed four in this election: enough for the BJP to include Ravinder Indraj Singh in the Cabinet. By caste, Singh is a Dalit.
The inclusion of Kapil Mishra, a Brahmin, also helped tick the caste box. That Delhi is BJP’s prize catch is a given.
The Party has returned to power in the Capital city after 27 years.
Between 1993 and 1998 when it was in power, it saw three Chief Ministers: Madan Lal Khurana who stepped down after 27 months after allegations of corruption; Sahib Singh Verma, who was replaced after 31 months because he failed to control onion prices in Delhi; and Sushma Swaraj, who had the distinction of being Delhi’s first woman Chief Minister, though only for 52 days.
Incidentally, both Khurana and Verma’s sons contested the recent Delhi elections and won their respective seats: Harish Khurana from Moti Nagar and Parvesh Singh Verma from New Delhi.
Swaraj’s daughter, Bansuri, is a familiar face given that she is an MP from New Delhi. She had campaigned vigorously for the Party in the recently concluded assembly elections. This time around, the BJP won, rather swept, the polls with 48 seats in its kitty against AAP’s 22 in the 70-member Assembly.
The Congress lost power in 2013 after a dream run for 15 years under Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. In the three assembly elections that followed in 2015, 2020 and 2025 it secured a zero.
While on numbers, there is an interesting aside. At the national level, Gupta is currently the second woman Chief Minister in the country, after Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal.
As for Delhi, she is the Capital’s ninth Chief Minister across gender but the fourth woman to be sworn in to head Delhi. Across Parties, she succeeds BJP’s Sushma Swaraj, Congress’ Sheila Dikshit and Aam Aadmi Party’s Atishi in that order.
As far as BJP goes, she is the Party’s second Chief Minister after Sushma Swaraj.
That Gupta has hit the ground running is evident from the fact that within hours of taking over she held her first Cabinet meeting following which she made key announcements, including the decision to table CAG reports; implementing the Centre’s flagship health insurance scheme; and the promised financial assistance to women.
Having said that, it would also be good politics if the BJP builds on the strengths of AAP and its welfare schemes rather than demolishing everything that has the stamp of its adversary. It is time for the Party to rise above petty and partisan politics and focus on the welfare of those who voted it in with hope and optimism. Given BJP’s impressive tally, its Time starts now, so to speak.
