Challenging the patriarchal functioning of the party, a section of women leaders in the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) have demanded that their voices be heard in the selection of candidates for the three-tier local body polls.
Sources said women members of the party had been reportedly kept out of the parliamentary board either in the lower-rung units or at the district level. “Women are able to contest only because of the rule that 50% of seats have been reserved in local bodies and panchayats,” a party functionary said.
The women leaders alleged that the party leadership had deprived them of the chance to participate in discussion forums, despite the fact that they were cleverly manoeuvred to stage protests and take out rallies. “No seats have been offered to women either for the Assembly or Lok Sabha polls,” the functionary said.
After the defeat of Qamarunnisa Anwar from Kozhikode-II Assembly segment in 1996, the leadership has perceived an excuse that women cannot pull off victories in male-dominated elections,” she said, adding that the bias had been there for quite some time.
The disgruntlement among IUML women members comes close on the heels of Muslim Youth League leaders seeking better representation for youth leaders in the Assembly and Parliament. In fact, party legislator K.M. Shaji even urged the leadership to extend the three-term limit for party candidates in local body, Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
However, IUML national committee member Noorbina Rasheed, who was a council member of the Kozhikode Corporation from 1995 to 2005, felt that women were marginalised in the political spectrum worldwide. “This is the case with all political parties. More than 50% of voters are women in the State, and they are the force behind getting party leaders elected to the Legislature and Parliament,” she said.
IUML State working committee member P. Kulsu diplomatically said the leadership had already tasked women with responsibilities in the organisational set-up of the party. It is for the leadership to take a collective decision on choosing candidates, Ms. Kulsu, who is also general secretary of the Vanitha League, the women’s wing of the party, said.
Nevertheless, both Ms. Rasheed and Ms. Kulsu hope that the leadership would play a constructive role in offering seats to women in the Assembly elections next year.
