Those Who Trust Women Voters Will Face A Shock?

Five years back, the Chandrababu Naidu government deposited money in bank accounts of women under the Pasupu Kumkuma scheme to attract their votes days before polling. The party leaders said that women voters would vote for them as money was deposited in bank accounts. TDP predicted that its win was confirmed.

Cut to next, TDP recorded its biggest defeat in 2019. The Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YCP won 151 seats in the state. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy felt like the brother of women in the state as he disbursed money by pressing the button every month through Direct Benefit Transfer.

In the recent elections, the YCP strongly believed that women voters would vote for them as they distributed money under the schemes. The party leaders campaigned the same. They also felt that the big voting percentage was in favour of them. They dubbed the increase of women voters percent as their victory sign. Looking at the results, the alliance won 164 seats more than what YCP won in 2019.

The YCP did not even get the status of opposition. Looking at both incidents, one thing is common. There is no bigger mistake than thinking that women voters will vote for them if they deposit money in their accounts. It will be good if the parties understand this. The government should make lending a helping hand to the poor and needy as its aim. But trying to bring the business aspect of giving and taking will lead to disaster.

We have to say that the women voters are making this clear with their votes every time. The relationship between the political party and the voter should be emotional. If the relationship is like consumer and vendor then they prefer their interests ignoring the emotional connection. We go to the nearby shop to buy groceries despite prices being high in Kirana stores. But we prefer going to wholesale shops to buy things despite not knowing them as the prices are less there. No explanation is required for this.

Every party spends on welfare schemes. The tune of spending might differ. Thanks to late YSR, the tradition of spending big amounts on welfare schemes picked up. Parties even went into a fear that they might not come to power without schemes. This created a scene where whoever might be in power should implement welfare schemes. It would be a big mistake to be confident that the schemes will bring votes. Benefiting a particular community thinking they will vote collectively is also a wrong opinion. The recent AP results can be cited as another big example of this. Observers say that it's a wrong perception that benefiting the women voters will get votes. However, parties can get blessings if they work on making the lives of women better. It will be to their benefit if they understand this.