Keeping up with UP: Women politicians gearing up for UP polls

Dimple Yadav’s public image received a boost after she helped the injured young protesters at Jantar Mantar during the CJP protest demanding education reforms

Opposition women MPs took centre stage both within Parliament and at the famous Makar Dwar during the recent Monsoon Session. They aggressively raised a range of issues -- from the 33% women’s quota and Jantar Mantar police lathi charge to Ram temple donation theft allegations.

Dimple Yadav is expected to lead a battery of women leaders -- Ragini Sonkar, Priya Saroj, Iqra Hasan, Ruchi Veera, Pooja Saroj, and others -- to give their UP campaign a soft touch. (PTI)

The spirited performance of Opposition MPs Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Dimple Yadav, Iqra Hasan, Priya Saroj, Supriya Sule, Mahua Moitra, Jaya Bachchan, Renuka Chowdhury and Sagarika Ghosh set the tone for the session and discussions. From the treasury benches, cine star Kangana Ranaut held fort. Perhaps, the absence of BJP leader Smriti Irani and her articulate offensive was felt. Some even remembered the late Sushma Swaraj and her elegant style of taking on the Opposition.

While Gandhi has always been erudite, calm and composed while delivering salvos at the treasury benches with a smile, the surprise of the session was Samajwadi Party's (SP) Mainpuri MP Dimple Yadav, who was often seen sitting right behind her husband and Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav in Parliament. She used to maintain a low profile with limited media interactions in the past. Now, she is more assertive and confident in interactions with journalists and other MPs.

Yadav’s public image received a boost after she helped the injured young protesters at Jantar Mantar during the protest by the Cockroach Janta Party demanding education reforms. She took up cudgels for them with the administration, emotionally raising their issue on the floor of the House.

In fact, when her uncle and the party’s senior leader Shivpal Singh Yadav committed a political faux pas by declaring that the incarcerated Azam Khan would be made the state’s home minister if the SP won the election, she remained non-committal while accusing the government of committing excesses against him (Azam).

Apparently, the SP is preparing her for a bigger role in electioneering as her Rajput background can help the party nullify or dilute the rowdy image that the BJP has been consistently building against the leadership, besides painting the party as pro-minority.

Yadav is expected to lead a battery of women leaders -- Ragini Sonkar, Priya Saroj, Iqra Hasan, Ruchi Veera, Pooja Saroj, and others -- to give their campaign a soft touch.

As for the BJP, its new national team has eight office bearers from poll-bound UP. Three of them are women. Smriti Irani, who lost the Amethi Lok Sabha polls in 2024 after winning it in 2019 against Rahul Gandhi, will counter Priyanka’s influence. She is articulate, draws crowds and can connect with Gen Z.

Sangeeta Yadav and Rekha Verma represent the two prominent backward castes -- Yadav and Kurmi -- that the BJP wishes to reach out to and consolidate. Sangeeta Yadav is a Rajya Sabha member, married to a bureaucrat who was posted in Gujarat. She became an MLA in 2017 and later a Rajya Sabha member. The BJP is eyeing Yadav support in eastern UP districts like Deoria, Jaunpur, Azamgarh, Ballia, besides winning over another OBC Maurya.

Rekha Verma, a Kurmi (OBC) leader, twice defeated Jitin Prasada in his bastion Dhaurahra in Lakhimpur Kheri in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls before he quit the Congress and joined the BJP. She lost the 2024 Lok Sabha election to the Samajwadi Party by a few thousand votes.

Kurmis wield considerable influence in their areas. To stem their drift to SP, the BJP had appointed a Kurmi state president, Pankaj Chaudhury. The appointment of both Sangeeta Yadav and Rekha Verma is also a counter to the SP's PDA (Pichda, Dalit, Alpsankhyak) formula.

The BJP continues to focus on “aadhi abadi” after women supported the party in several states. The beneficiary schemes -- from toilets and rations to cash transfers on the eve of the polls -- had proved to be a game changer. The success of Rahul Gandhi's women special session in Pune under the Congress' ‘Chattron ki Goonj’ outreach programme must have rung alarm bells in the ruling BJP.

The BJP's script is likely to be similar in Uttar Pradesh, where there is already a buzz about the government thinking about announcing a prepoll promise of ₹50000 to women voters.