NEW DELHI – India’s alpha-male Prime Minister Narendra Modi faces threeformidable women looking to spoil his chances of winning a new term inelections beginning next week.
AFP profiles them here:
– ‘Big sis’ –
Feisty and fiery Mamata Banerjee is the first female chief minister of theeastern state of West Bengal — home to more people than Germany — whereModi’s right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) needs to do well.
The diminutive 64-year-old is one of Modi’s most vociferous critics and hasbeen working to cobble together an anti-Modi alliance.
“We can tell you one thing, that we are all together against the BJPgovernment to save the nation,” she says.
Banerjee, whose Trinamool Congress party rules the roost in West Bengal,has succeeded in keeping the BJP at bay so far despite the growingpopularity of Modi.
The former national railways minister known as “didi”, or big sister,enjoys a mass following not least because of her humble upbringing andlowbrow style.
“Banerjee is a very important leader. She is a struggler and a fighter tothe core,” Manisha Priyam, a Delhi-based political analyst, told AFP.
“If she does well in the state, she will be an important player in theformation of a government.”
A budding poet, painter and author — Banerjee dons many hats. While herfans swear by her oil paintings and poems, critics deride her work as trash.
– Lower-caste champion –
Known as the “Dalit Queen”, Mayawati, 63, has had a colourful career aschampion of lower caste Dalits. She wields considerable influence in200-million-strong Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state and theelection’s biggest prize.
Her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) was decimated in the 2014 polls but she hasstitched up an alliance with her sworn enemy, the Samajwadi Party.
Analysts blamed her 2014 rout on her penchant for extravagance — she oncesent her private jet to pick up a pair of sandals according to leaked UScables — and a controversy over building concrete parks full of statues ofherself.
But if her party performs well this time, she could once again play apivotal role in coalition negotiations.
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She has hit the right notes so far, calling out the BJP for its “divide andrule communal politics” while cosying up with her once arch-rival AkhileshYadav who helms the Samajwadi Party.
“She does have a cadre which has been built up astutely. No politics can goahead in UP by disrespecting her. No one can afford to take her lightly,”said Priyam.
– Indira reborn? –
The youngest scion of the famed Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, Priyanka Gandhi Vadraentered the family business of politics in January after years of steeringclear — and has made a splash.
And what could be a better battleground for the charismatic younger sisterof PM-hopeful Rahul Gandhi than Uttar Pradesh — the Hindu heartland whereModi has his core support base.
Priyanka, 47, has been tasked with reviving the Congress party in thestate, where it was thrashed in 2014 polls — winning just two of the 80parliamentary seats in contrast to BJP’s 71.
She seems to have taken the challenge head-on, launching her campaign inModi’s constituency of Varanasi on a motorboat that traversed the Ganges, ariver revered by Hindus.
The symbolism was not lost on analysts, saying her move was aimed atsnuffing out criticism that her Congress party has been ignoring majorityHindu voters and appeasing India’s 170 million Muslims.
Her fans say her common touch, as well as her appearance, are reminiscentof Indira Gandhi, her grandmother who was India’s first woman primeminister — and a divisive figure assassinated in 1984.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is seeking re-election in the world’s largestdemocracy, where voting begins next week
Mamata Banerjee is one of Modi’s most vociferous critics and has beenworking to cobble together an anti-Modi alliance
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati has called out the BJP for its”divide and rule communal politics”
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has been tasked with reviving the Congress party inthe Uttar Pradesh, where it was thrashed in 2014 polls. APP/AFP
