A nation must think before it acts.
Women outnumbered men at polling booths in half of India’s states in 2014, but a Pew survey conducted this year showed they were also more critical of Modi’s policies, including his handling of rising prices, pollution, and communal tensions. His choice of a Hindu monk to lead one of the worst states for women in India has also raised some eyebrows.
“Does his acolyte, Swami Adityanath, really care about the status of women?” said Sumit Ganguly, professor at the Tagore Chair in Indian Cultures and Civilizations at Indiana University, Bloomington, referring to the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh who has voiced — among other views — that women need protection, not independence. “Rank paternalism in much of” the ruling party’s leadership is constraining Modi’s ability to effect significant change, Ganguly said.