- Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE Indian National Congress, India’s grand-old party, has emphasised on the women factor in this year’s crucial assembly elections in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and in the first list of 125 candidates that it released on January 14, there are 50 women contestants. One among them is Archana Gautam, Miss Bikini India 2018, besides being an actor and model.
Gautam, 26, received the ticket to contest the election starting February 10 only two months after joining the party. She was also seen posing for media lenses with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the Congress leader who is spearheading the party for the Uttar Pradesh election.
Born in Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh where Hastinapur assembly is situated and trained in journalism, Gautam made her debut in the Indian film industry in 2016 and also appeared in films in other languages such as Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.
Gautam’s foray into politics invited mixed reactions from the netizens but she was unfazed.
She is assertive and unapologetic and is an exception to the country’s women candidates, who must act and dress modestly to get into a political office.
“To people who are abusing and making vulgar statements about me, I want to say that I have two professional lives and they are both different from each other. I would like them to not mix the two,” Gautam recently told local reporters.
“No one has the right to judge my character on the basis of my clothes,” she added.
Socially, Gautam, who belongs to a poor family, is a Dalit, the lowest rung of the Hindu caste system and formerly called “untouchables”.
In India, being photographed in skimpy clothes is considered inappropriate in a political career.
Right-wing Hindu groups slammed Gautam’s candidacy after it was confirmed and circulated images of her revealing outfits, describing them as “obscene”.
“She is a lady who displays her body publicly and it is unseemly and unacceptable,” Abhishek Agarwal, leader of the Hindu Mahasabha party, was quoted as saying by The Times.
Supriya Shrinate, a spokesperson of the Congress, defended Gautam, saying, “She deserves our respect just like any other woman does. Those who are making derogatory remarks against her are only displaying their anti-women stance.”
Vadra also came to Gautam’s defence recently after the latter was trolled viciously. Vadra countered the critics asking why prime minister Narendra Mod is not asked about marriage or his choice of clothing.
Gautam has said that if she wins Hastinapur, once a bastion of the Congress but won by the state’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party last time (2017), she will focus on making Hastinapur a top tourist destination by starting more buses and trains.
She also told journalists while canvassing for votes that she was proud of her achievements, which include winning the Miss Cosmos World beauty pageant in Malaysia in 2018. She has also won titles such as Miss Uttar Pradesh 2018 and Miss Talent 2018.
Elections in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, will be held in seven phases and the results will be out along with those in four other states on March 10.
Hastinapur, a seat reserved for the Scheduled Castes, will be held on February 10.
