It was an idea that took shape during an informal chat between former Akhil Bharti Vidyarthi Parishad activists and now Bharatiya Janata Party leaders — Dharmendra Pradhan, Sunil Bansal and Vanathi Srivasan — during the campaigning for the 2022 Uttar Pradesh assembly elections. Pradhan asked Srinivasan how the Mahila Morcha (women’s unit) could help the party win more seats.
The Tamil Nadu lawmaker knew exactly what she and her team could do.
HT launches Crick-it, a one stop destination to catch Cricket, anytime, anywhere. Explore now!
“I told them to allow my team to travel just like the pracharaks (campaigners) did,” she recalled telling them. “That women could hold different types of programmes that men couldn’t and this would get us more voters.’’
The other two leaders agreed and 950 women spread across Uttar Pradesh soon after to boost the prospects of the BJP. When the party won 255 out of 403 seats, increasing their vote share by 1.6 percentage points despite a formidable challenge posed by the Samajwadi party, the BJP realised that the idea of women pracharaks had legs.
These women called vistaraks are now working on their first general election and have grown in number to 3,434. Pracharaks travelling to states for mass outreach is an integral part of the BJP’s strategy for any election. Limited only to men, the pracharaks go to assigned districts and work for the party while staying with other workers or karyakartas (functionaries).
While the party was unsure how many of its women workers would agree to travelling to a new place and staying with a strangers’ family, 671 women from Gujarat, 652 from Rajasthan and three from Manipur were among the new batch of women who are spending anywhere from 15 days to three months in various locations.
Kaynat Kazi is one such vistarak. She has been assigned to work in West Bengal’s Malda district, a three- hour plane ride and some distance by bus from her home.
”All women vistaraks are going to different states where elections are comping up. I have been doing this for three years, but because of the general elections, we have increased the duration,’’ Kazi said. The party takes care of her travel to the state, and staying with another party worker means she has boarding and lodging. But there are other kinds of challenges to deal with.
“Sometimes, I am not even sure where am I going to stay at night,” said Kazi, highlighting how it requires a certain degree of courage to take on this role. Families, and often the women’s children, try to create obstacles, asking them why there was a need to take on such work.
It’s these kinds of problems that made even the party skeptical, Srinivasan said. But then, she was able to prove that it was worth it. For example, she said, women went on shorter 28-hour visits to places like Gujarat, organised temple devotees and conducted satyanarayan pujas. These were innovative ways of mobilising voters.
The vistaraks are also effective in talking to those who are unhappy with the party’s decisions, she said. They reach out to those who have been denied tickets, and this disarms even the most bitter critics.
“Once a woman vistarak reaches the state, her day usually comprises meeting local mahila morchas and conduct local meetings, especially with women voters. They also carry out volunteering activities where they inform women about their rights and laws made to help them,” Kazi said.
The BJP believes that women voters are key to their success in the elections and vistaraks are key to reaching them. But Srinivasan said that this new practice has a much larger role.
“It gives women confidence, their commitment towards the party gets enhanced and it also helps us to spot future leaders,’’ she said. With women’s reservation becoming a reality before 2029, identifying potential leaders while carrying out party work serves dual goals. All this comes at a price of just ₹10,000 for every assignment for every vistarak, she added.
,”This is a very male-dominated field, but I have found my space here. We travel like sisters with each other and we belong to places across India and then we travel to places across the nation,” said Kazi. “I have travelled to 11 states and sometimes I travel through direct flights, trains, buses and even by road. I have travelled to Kishtwar in Kashmir, which is near the LOC (Line of Control). As women, we are quite empowered and we take it as a challenge and we have strong leadership so that empowers us.”
