The actor-politician has filed her RS nomination for fourth time, has been vocal about issues related to women and children inside and outside Parliament.
New Delhi: Actor-politician Jaya Bachchan, whose re-nomination to the Rajya Sabha as a Samajwadi Party candidate had prompted Naresh Agarwal to quit the party and join BJP, has over the years emerged as a powerful voice raising women’s issues both inside and outside Parliament.
In 2004, it was the SP leader Amar Singh who suggested Jaya Bachchan’s name for Rajya Sabha to then CM and party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav.
Since then she has represented the party in the Upper House and has been vocal about issues related to women and children. Bachchan filed her nomination for the fourth time Monday.
In her last term from 2012 to 2018, Bachchan became the face of women politics inside the House. In December 2012, when Nirbhaya incident shook the conscience of the nation, Bachchan stood in the Rajya Sabha, cried and protested. She was praised even by her opponents for her will to get justice for women.
On 27 April 2015, she raised the issue of a 23-year-old Delhi woman who was separated from her two-year-old child by her in-laws, in Parliament. When she saw that members of the House did not interested in the issue, Bachchan was quick to add, “We have been saying legal action will be taken in the case but this won’t work now. We will have to come together in assuring her that she would get her child back.”
In the past nine years, her average attendance in the House has been 77 per cent, just one per cent less than the national average, according to figures received from Parliament. She didn’t miss a single day of the last winter session.
She has participated in 125 debates raising issues related to women, children and farmers. She has asked 444 questions, mostly on environment-related issues, so far.
The star campaigner
In January last year, when the Samajwadi Party was rocked by factionalism, Jaya Bachchan immediately took Akhilesh’s side while keeping Mulayam Singh in the loop. She has maintained a warm relation with both father-son duo.
In the last assembly elections, Jaya Bachchan extensively campaigned along with Dimple Yadav for the party candidates, especially women candidates. She has been one of the star campaigners of the party since she joined.
For a party that is often criticised for its male-dominated structure, Bachchan comes as a face-saver. While the SP projects her in Parliament to speak on critical issues, it also deploys her on the field to attract women voters at the time elections.
At times, she does not hesitate to criticise certain policies of her own party. In October last year, at the party convention in Agra, Bachchan demanded that SP should give more representation to women, which was readily accepted by Akhilesh Yadav.