Opinion: In All-Women Republic Day Parade, PM Modi's Big Message

The Union Government's efforts to put together an all-women Republic Day parade in 2024 can bolster the BJP's efforts to highlight itself and Prime Minister Narendra Modi as being committed to empowering women in every walk of life, including defence.

The grand event on January 26, 2024 may be showcased as evidence of Modi's unswerving support for the cause of women's empowerment.

Lok Sabha elections are due before peak summer next year and campaigning will begin in earnest within weeks of Republic Day. The buzz around an all-woman turnout (barring from divisions that have no women), on Kartavya Path (Rajpath before it was rechristened in September last), has the potential to be integrated with the ruling party's electoral campaign.

The chosen name for the pivotal road in the Indian capital is integral to the Sangh Parivar's political narrative. The word 'kartavya' or duty was selected because the rights and duties of citizens are presented by this political regime as two sides of the same coin.

Empowering women and pursuing "pro-people" policies are duties that PM Modi and BJP follow, and they expect the people to respond similarly.

The women-dominated turnout on what will also be the 75th Republic Day of India can easily be portrayed as another feather in the Modi government's cap by the colossal publicity machinery at the regime's disposal and replicated by its leaders and spokespersons.

The BJP and Modi are past masters in the use of political symbolism. An all-women parade, watched live by millions on television, has the potential to get women voters to back the party. It would enhance the BJP's significant lead over adversaries in this constituency in several regions.

It must be kept in mind that the scale of the grand 75th Republic Day celebrations has not yet been announced by the government. So far, an Office Memorandum dated March 1 has revealed the government's intention to have only women participants in the contingents (marching and band), tableaux and other performances during the parade. This followed a meeting of senior Defense Ministry officials in February.

In 2022, when India had not yet recovered fully from the memories of the brutal second wave of Covid, the Republic Day parade on Rajpath featured the largest flypast featuring 75 aircraft and helicopters to mark the 75th year of Indian independence.

Crucial assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh were due in 2022 and within the BJP there were apprehensions about its performance, which eventually proved false. However, little was left to chance.

After Modi inaugurated the Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor project in Varanasi in December 2021, the Uttar Pradesh tableaux included a depiction of the temple's history. It was ranked the best state tableau, although Maharashtra won in the popular choice category.

In the R-Day Parade this year too, the theme of Nari Shakti or women's power was at the forefront. The Indian Navy's tableau featured a crew of women who flew a Dornier over the parade. An armed battalion of women Central Reserve Police Force officers also marched down Kartavya Path. In addition, the Navy and Indian Air Force contingents were also led by women officers.

An all-women contingent from the three forces - Army, Air Force and Navy - marched in the Republic Day Parade for the first time in 2015. The groundwork was done in previous years.

Back in 2012, a woman officer, a Squadron Leader, led the Air Force contingent at the parade. Two women officers also marched down the Rajpath as part of the Army Ordnance Corps in 2013.

The ruling party has not tried so far to use the government's push for women's participation at R-Day parades for electoral gains. Yet, the coinage and repeated use of the idea of Nari Shakti is an integral part of Modi's speeches and messages.

This messaging is subliminal as the event is broadcast over mainstream media and replicated through social media, undoubtedly the most used medium for information and propaganda.

Given that by 2024, Modi would have been in office for 10 years, an entire generation of voters - especially women in this instance - would associate him with enhanced visibility of women in key national events.

The benefit of this perception is most likely to accrue to the ruling party. The electoral prospects of the BJP's adversaries would be further weakened if they are critical of the initiative. They can hope to counter this implicit campaign by highlighting broader issues.

For instance, while the increased presence of women is heartening and provides role models for the next generation of women professionals, there is also a need to look at the larger question of current hindrances to the induction of women in the services.

The induction of a handful of women in the services and other professions that remain exclusively male domains does not really improve their social and financial conditions or their security.

Besides, conservative social practices are followed and political leaders across the board still do not call out unacceptable behaviour.

Yet, symbolic choices made by the BJP have worked to its advantage. For instance, the party made inroads among the non-dominant sub-castes within the Scheduled Castes after Ram Nath Kovind became India's second Dalit president.

Likewise, the choice of Droupadi Murmu for President is cited ceaselessly by BJP leaders to claim that the party is committed to empowering tribals.

Critics of the ruling party contend that the socio-economic conditions and the security of the Dalits remain as precarious as before 2017. They also argue that merely selecting a tribal for the Rashtrapati Bhavan will neither empower nor improve the community's conditions.

But there is no denying that such choices enhance the dignity of the community.

In a country with a history of denial of prosperity and security, the "augmentation" of dignity, even by proxy, is considered a first step in the long road to parity.

A large number of Indians visualise themselves in Modi's larger-than-life public image. Similarly, in choices like Kovind and Murmu, the downtrodden 'see themselves' as being accorded 'respect'. The Prime Minister and his party are aware that tokenism has a long tradition in India and this has yielded benefits for originators of big ideas.

There is a distinct probability that in the near all-woman parade to celebrate India's 75th Republic Day, a large number of India's women consider the cheers for the participants are also a shout-out to their potential.

This may be a fallacious belief, but half the electoral battles are won by creating perceptions among people. In elections, every vote counts and because 2024 will be a little different, the BJP and Modi are unlikely to miss harnessing this move.

(The writer is an NCR-based author and journalist. His latest book is 'The Demolition and the Verdict: Ayodhya and the Project to Reconfigure India'. He has also written 'The RSS: Icons of the Indian Right' and 'Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times'.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author.