Farah Khan’s recent tweet, “No babas or babies in politics please. Only Netas, Betas and Betis?,” apart from being amusing is a clever little tip for aspiring politicians.
To make it in Indian politics, especially if you are a woman, you better not have any hot titles like baby or dreamgirl.
Hema Malini is an MP but that’s it, nobody sees her going further. Poor DMK MP Kanimozi was known more as this smart poetess and daddy’s girl and look where this hip image landed her!
If you are aiming to be a political superpower and feel the youth (our nation’s vote bank) won’t be able to think of you as beti, work on a strategy where people will start imagining you to be the next madam, behenji, didi, amma or even aunty.
Yes, the Indian vote bank loves to look at their female leaders as upright, matronly figures. No wonder, the nation’s favourite didi Mamata Banerjee swept the polls and became CM of West Bengal.
Down South, people in Tamil Nadu decided that they needed their amma (Jayalalithaa) back in power as former CM Karunanidhi was interested in playing doting father only to his daughter Kanimozi. And everyone got to see how powerful a well-loved aunty can be as Sheila Dikshit pulled of a hat-trick victory to become Delhi’s CM for the third consecutive time.
Talking about how important these titles are, MP Sachin Pilot explains, “Titles such as behenji for Mayawati, didi for Mamata Banerjee and amma for Jayalalithaa are symbolic of the vibrancy and colourful aspect of Indian democracy. These names have come to symbolize and are specific to the personality of these three political leaders. Titles are given only after a leader has acquired a certain stature.”
These titles are a great indication of the goodwill that these leaders share with the public.
MP Jyothi Midra too feels that these titles are a great asset to have as she says, “Names like didi and amma have come into vogue as a sign of affection and also as an acknowledgement for the immense amount of work that these women leaders have done in their career.”
But MP Milind Deora isn’t impressed and feels political wannabes shouldn’t get carried away with them.
He says, “Names like didi and behenji carry little significance for me. I do not see them as being reflective of the popularity of a political leader. In fact, I don’t think they are symbolic of anything. I simply do not attach any importance to them.”
Milind further adds, “In my constituency, people use endearments such as bhai, bhaiya and brother when they address me. Using such expressions is not indicative of my popularity with them. Nor are they signs of my enjoying any extra intimacy with them. Because the majority are not necessarily my supporters. Often, those who call me Shri Deora or Mr Deora are people who are closest to me. These words are used out of a sense of respect and there is no need to read too much into them.”
Milind does have a point as it took decades for Mamata Banerjee, our favourite didi, to become CM. Amma too has lost a few elections and many a times behenji (Mayawati) has faced public criticism.
Titles may not always mean something, but right now they sure are happening as it’s the ammas, didis, aunties and behenjis who are rocking. And the one who continues to be the most powerful of all politicians even in a male dominated country like ours is Madam.
While you are working on this motherly image just make sure that you don’t share a title with another leader as you don’t want people having trouble figuring out who the real didi is as MP Anu Tandon says, “When I first entered politics, people used to call me either didi, bhua or behenji. When I was addressed by the last name, I put my foot down as that would create an identification problem with Mayawati. Now, people call me betiya.”
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